


Wondering

by hsmtmtsfan



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, F/M, Hurt Ricky Bowen (HSM: The Series), Hurt/Comfort, Long-Distance Relationship, Not Lynne Bowen Friendly, Ricky Bowen Needs A Hug (HSM: The Series), Todd is actually a jerk, background Seblos, background redlyn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 38,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22339597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hsmtmtsfan/pseuds/hsmtmtsfan
Summary: The holidays were supposed to be time for for Ricky and Nini to spend together before she went to the Youth Actor's Conservatory in the next semester. Instead, Ricky finds himself roped into spending the holidays in Chicago with his mother... and Todd.It turns out that he was correct to not like his mother's new boyfriend.It's only for two weeks. He just has to get through the holidays.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 200
Kudos: 539





	1. A Night of Change

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the title comes from the song Wondering that Olivia Rodrigo and Julia Lester sang. It is my absolute favorite song from the show and I felt like it fit this story.

The Denny’s just down the road from East High School needed a little tender love and care. There were dirty footprints leading into the restaurant that had yet to be cleaned up, and a few of the booths were torn and scratched. Several tables had yet to be cleaned off, plates covered with syrup and half-eaten pancakes piled high, even though there were several employees wandering around with nothing to do.

It was pretty empty when they arrived, with only a lone, elderly couple sitting in a booth near the door, but after the whole drama department piled into the restaurant, Ricky could see the anxiety growing on the faces of the employees. Part of him felt bad, even though they had called to let them know ahead of time, but he was still riding on the thrill of their final show, and he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

He slid into a booth with Nini, Big Red, and Ashlyn, and he was practically vibrating with energy. The table was a bit sticky, but none of them mentioned it.

“So, this is it,” he said, “The famous after-show Denny’s.”

“You’ve been to this Denny’s before,” Big Red said, eyebrows furrowed.

Nini snickered, and Ricky rolled his eyes, leaning back.

“Yeah, but not like this,” He responded. He waved his arms dramatically into the air, “This is a whole new experience that I’ve only ever heard from Nini.”

“Pipe down, dreamer,” Ashlyn grabbed his arms and pushed them back down onto the table, but there was a grin on her face that hadn’t left since the show had ended.

Ricky pretended to pout, but it didn’t last long. Nini grabbed his hand, and he felt like leaping onto the table and dancing. He would, too, if it didn’t mean letting go of her hand.

It didn’t seem to be possible that earlier this week, he hadn’t had her by his side.

“I can’t believe it’s over,” Nini said, giving his hand a squeeze. She leaned into him, resting her head onto his shoulder, “After everything that happened, we are done with High School Musical.”

“What do you think Miss Jenn is going to pick next?” Big Red asked, “because I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hoping for Camp Rock.”

Ricky blinked, and a surprised laugh left his lips. He kicked his best friend underneath the table.

“Okay, explain this one. No way you know Camp Rock. You don’t like musicals.”

A smug little grin made its way onto Big Red’s lip. He kicked him back.

“You’re not the only one who has gotten into Musicals since the start of the semester. By the way, have you listened to Hamilton yet?”

Ashlyn gave a sudden squeal, causing both Ricky and Nini to jump in surprise. Big Red only grinned.

“You listened to Hamilton?” she asked.

“Of course,” Big Red said, and Ricky could have sworn he could see little hearts in his eyes as he turned to look at her, “I heard you talking about it a few weeks ago. I figured if you liked it, it must be good.”

Those were definitely heart eyes that she was sending back at him.

Had he missed something?

“Hello. My name is Tara and I’ll be your server today. What can I get you to drink?”

Ricky jumped. The waitress, a young woman with a blonde ponytail, seemed to have come out of nowhere, and was suddenly standing by their table with a wide, obviously forced smile on her face.

“Oh, uh, Dr. Pepper,” he answered.

“I’ll have water,” Nini piped up after him, followed by Ashlyn’s order of coffee, and Big Red’s order of apple juice.

The waitress nodded, jotting it all down and quickly moving on to the booth beside them, where EJ, Gina, Carlos, and Sebastian had taken residence.

“Well, in regard to next year’s musical, I’m personally hoping for High School Musical 2,” Ashlyn said. She flipped her hair behind her head, “Mrs. Darbus was only in like, the first minute of the movie, but maybe I could audition for another part. I need you two as Troy and Gabriella for as long as possible, though.”

He was surprised to find himself nodding. He honestly had not really thought about the next show. He had only joined this one to get back with Nini, and now they were back together. He had never been a Musical person and had assumed that this would be his only one.

But, then again, he had had fun. Tons of fun. The drama department had quickly become his family, and he couldn’t imagine leaving them.

Yeah, he would be back next semester.

Nini let out a laugh beside him, high-pitched and flighty. He knew her laughs well enough to know it wasn’t real.

“Yeah,” she said, “That would be fun.”

His head turned towards her, eyes narrowing, and both Ashlyn and Big Red arched eyebrows at her.

“Nini, what’s wrong?” he asked with a frown.

Her mouth opened and closed, and for a moment he was sure she was going to lie, but then she just sighed and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a card and bit her lip, hesitating a moment before speaking.

“Well, remember that lady from the boarding school who came to opening night?”

Ricky nodded, and he felt his stomach drop. He already knew what she was going to say.

“Turns out she didn’t leave like I thought she did. She offered me a spot at their school, starting next semester.”

The group fell silent. Ricky stared down at the card, speechless. His mouth felt dry.

He and Nini has just gotten back together, and now she was leaving?

“What did you tell her?” Ashlyn asked, voice tinged with restraint.

“Nothing yet,” Nini answered. She tapped her fingers against the table and glanced at him, “I don’t know yet. I mean, it’s an amazing opportunity, but…. I don’t want to leave East High. I just don’t know. What do you guys think?”

There was a split moment where no one said anything, and then Ashlyn and Big Red starting talking over each other.

“You can’t leave-“

“We need you at East High-“

“No one else can play the leads like you-“

“But you don’t need a preppy school like them-“

“Without you, we’ll fall apart-“

“So, stay!”

Ricky listened to their arguments for her to stay, but his mind kept shifting back to when Nini first told him about the school. It was a school for the arts, a new start for her. She could learn so much more than she could at East High and have so many more opportunities. She would be surrounded by people like her, not held back by people like him.

“You should go,” he said suddenly, cutting into Ashlyn’s and Big Red’s arguments for why she should stay, “You said it yourself. It’s a good opportunity.”

Nini blinked. She stared at him, eyebrows furrowed. There was a long moment where no one said anything, all three people staring at him.

“But it’s so far away,” Nini said finally, “We won’t be able to be together.”

She squeezed his hand, and he swallowed thickly.

“I know, but we can see each other on breaks, and we can FaceTime every day. You can’t pass up this opportunity.”

“Ricky!” Ashlyn protested, but he shook his head.

“It’s not fair to make her stay,” he said, before turning back to Nini, “If you really want to go, you should.”

She bit her lip and leaned into him.

“But I’ll miss you,” she said, voice soft.

“I’ll miss you too, but don’t miss out on this thing because of me.”

He could see the thoughts racing in her mind. She flipped the card over in her hand a few times, staring at it. He rubbed the back of her hand as she thought.

Part of him, a selfish part, wanted her to say that she was going to stay. He tried to squash it down.

“Okay,” she said after a moment, nodding, “Okay. I’ll talk to my moms.”

* * *

He didn’t get home until late. It was nearly eleven when he pulled up the driveway and climbed out of the car. The porch light was on, which meant that his father was still up and hadn’t yet turned it off.

“There’s my little star!” his father announced as he entered into the kitchen. He was standing in front of the kitchen table, doing a very bad job at hiding a bright red and white cake, “You did great up there today.”

“You said that for every show,” Ricky said, but a grin had appeared on his face as he dropped his bag on a chair.

“Because it was true,” his father responded. He grinned and stepped out of the way of the table, “Ta-Da!”

The cake was one layer, covered in white frosting and red borders. Bright red letters spelled out “Congratulations” along the top, and a basketball and microphone decorations were placed in the corners.

“I made it all by myself,” his father said proudly, “And in that, I mean that I used my own money to go to the store and buy it so that you didn’t die when you ate it.”

Ricky chuckled. He plopped down in a chair by the table as his father began to cut a corner piece and place it onto a paper plate.

“Thanks, dad.”

“You’re very welcome,” he said, shoving the hefty piece of cake at him.

As Ricky began to eat it, his father continued to talk.

“Now that your show is over, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Ricky slowed down his chewing, looking up at his father.

“What?” he asked him.

“Well,” his father coughed lightly, “Well, the holidays are coming up, and you’re going to have two weeks off of school. Your mother and I were talking… we think you should go spend the holidays with her in Chicago.”

Ricky stopped chewing. He let his fork fall down to the plate and stared at his father.

“What?”

“She really wants you to get to know Todd,” his father explained, “And she didn’t get to spend Christmas with us last year, so I think she wants to make up for it.”

He shook his head.

“No. No. I don’t want to go to Chicago. I want to stay here and be with Nini.”

“It’s just for two weeks,” his father said.

“But Nini isn’t going to East High next semester!” he protested, “Christmas Break is the last time before she leaves!”

His father frowned. He leaned back in his chair and tilted his head in confusion.

“Where is she going?”

“Youth Actor’s Conservatory. It’s a boarding school,” Ricky answered. He took in a shaky breath, “She told me today.”

His father was quiet for a moment, frowning down at the piece of cake that he had cut for himself and hadn’t touched. He swallowed.

“I’m sorry about that, Ricky,” he said after a moment, “I didn’t know.”

“I’m not going to Chicago.”

“You’ll need to talk to your moth about that.”

Ricky nodded firmly. He pushed himself off of the seat and abandoned his cake. He fished his cellphone from his pocket. He didn’t offer his father another word before he walked away, immediately dialing his mother’s number.

He could hear his father sigh behind him, but he ignored it as he sat on the stairs. The phone rang a total of three times before his mother picked up.

“Hello? Ricky?”

His throat closed up. He blinked away tears at the sound of his mother’s voice.

“Hey, mom,” he croaked out finally.

“Is everything okay? How did your show go?”

“Oh, my show went fine. I just… I wanted to talk to you about Christmas.”

“Your father finally told you? I wanted to tell you when I was down there for opening night, but your dad didn’t want to distract you anymore than we already did. I’m so excited to have you here, though. Todd’s dying to finally meet you.”

He tried to open his mouth, to tell his mother that he didn’t want to go to Chicago, but nothing came out.

“I really have missed you, Ricky. And I’m sorry about opening night. I should have told you beforehand that was coming. We haven’t spent much time together lately, and that’s my fault. I think this will be good for us, though.”

He did miss his mother. He missed her more than anything. He wanted, badly, to spend time with her.

He wanted to spend time with her in Utah, not in Chicago.

He leaned back on the step and closed his eyes.

“I already bought your ticket,” his mother continued, “ I’ll pick you up from the airport and then we’re going to go out to eat. Just the two of us.”

Any argument he had flew out the window. He couldn’t tell his mother he wasn’t going, not when he so badly wanted to spend time with her.

“Okay,” he responded, “Yeah, that sounds good. Hey, it’s late, so I can’t really talk much. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Okay. Good night, sweetie.”

“Night, mom.”

He hung up and dropped his phone into his lap. He covered his face with his hands and groaned.

“You didn’t tell her,” his father said as he appeared at the bottom of the steps.

“I couldn’t,” he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, “She already bought the ticket!”

His father gave him a knowing look. Ricky knew that he could see right through him and could tell just how much Ricky missed his mother.

“You still have a few weeks before the break. Spend it with Nini,” his father said.

Ricky nodded. He sighed and dropped his hands into his lap, before pushing himself back to his feet.

“I’m tired. I’m going to sleep. Good night.”

“What about your cake?”

“You can have it,” Ricky said. He scooped up his phone and began walking up the stairs.

He needed to talk to Nini.


	2. Chicago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ricky arrives in Chicago, and when his mother takes him out to dinner, an unexpected guest arrives.

The last day of the semester came by way too fast.

Ricky tapped his fingers against his desk, eyes flickering up at the clock on the wall every few seconds. His leg was shaking as he listened to his math teacher drone on and on about the quadratic formula. The man was the only teacher in probably the entire school that had decided to lecture on the last day, and it was just Ricky’s luck that he had him for the last class of the day.

He glanced over at Big Red beside him. His friend had spaced out long ago and was currently doodling in his notebook.

He looked back to the clock. Less than a minute to go. It felt like the longest minute of his life.

“Thirty-two. Thirty-one. Thirty.”

Someone behind him was counting down under their breath. He knew better than to look back to see who it was. Mr. Lowry would not hesitate to get onto him for not paying attention.

Even though there wasn’t a single person in class paying attention.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He tapped his pencil against his chin.

“Seventeen. Sixteen. Fifteen.”

A bird flew by the window. His fingers itched to pull out his phone and check the text, but he had a feeling that it was his mom. His flight took off in three hours.

“Ten. Nine. Eight.”

A few students began to pack up. Mr. Lowry barked at them that the bell hadn’t rung yet. Ricky’s eyes glued to the clock.

“Three. Two. One.”

The hand hit 12, and the bell rung. The entire class cheered, bursting into movement as everyone shoved notebooks into bags and leaped from their chairs.

“Complete all the problems on page 312 for homework!” Mr. Lowry shouted as students began to pile out, “Don’t forget to show your work!”

Ricky pushed up from his desk and smirked at Big Red, who was suddenly right beside his desk.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving me for two whole weeks,” Big Red huffed, his bookbag slung over his shoulder, “Can’t you just… I don’t know… sleep over at my place?”

“As much as I would love to spend two weeks listening to forest noises and sleep machines, my mom wants me to go to Chicago. Can’t back out now.”

They walked out the door, into the hallway, and pushed themselves against the walls to avoid the stampede of students barreling out of the school, tossing papers over their heads and screaming happily.

“They’re going to need those,” Big Red said, pointing at the discarded sheets of homework, “It’s the end of the semester, not the year.”

Ricky laughed and grabbed Big Red’s wrist as he saw an opening in the crowd, pulling into it.

Last year, he had been the same way, so overjoyed about the break and the holidays that he couldn’t contain himself. This year, however, the excitement about the end of the semester was overshadowed by the knowledge that Nini was leaving.

Once outside the school, he quickly spotted Nini standing with Kourtney in the parking lot. Kourtney was crying, hugging Nini tightly.

“Nini!” He called, jogging up to his girlfriend with Big Red right behind him.

Kourtney pulled away from Nini, who turned towards him. She was crying as well, but there was a smile on her face when she saw him.

The moment he was in front of her, his arms flung around her shoulders, pulling her close to him.

“I’m going to miss you,” she mumbled into his chest, arms wrapped tightly around him.

“I’m going to miss you, too,” he responded, “but we can still talk every day. And when you’re in Denver, I’ll try and come up some weekends.”

She pulled away from the hug and smiled, looking up at him. He leaned down and kissed her.

“Alright, lovebirds,” Mr. Mazzara was suddenly beside them, “Time to vacate the premises.”

“What did you do to get stuck with Parking Lot Duty?” Big Red asked.

Mr. Mazzara did not answer, simply pointing at them and then at their cars before walking away.

Ricky had a feeling he knew what it was. The Principal wasn’t too happy about the fire.

“Alright, well I need to go do some last-minute packing,” Ricky said regretfully. He kissed Nini once more, “I’ll text you when I get to Chicago.”

She nodded and pulled away, wiping at her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. Go get packed. Have fun with your mom. Send lots of pictures!”

He smiled at her and nodded.

“I will. You guys have fun at Ashlyn’s party tonight!”

“We’d have more fun if you were there,” Big Red said, and there was a frown on his lips.

“I’ll be there in spirit,” he said, and kissed Nini once more before pulling away, blinking tears from his eyes, wanting so badly to spend more time with his girlfriend.

He had put off packing, though, and he couldn’t miss his flight.

Mr. Mazzara blew a whistle from down the row of cars, waving at them to go.

* * *

“Ricky! Over here!”

Ricky scanned the crowd for the voice calling him, his bag slung over his shoulder as he walked into the Chicago airport. Being the Friday before Christmas, the place was packed, and it took him a moment to see his mom’s hand waving behind a family with half a dozen boys who all looked under the age of eight running around.

“Sorry, excuse me. Oops, I’m sorry,” he muttered, pushing past people in an effort to get to his mother.

“I got your bag!” his mother said, finally pushing past the last people and carrying his suitcase. She smiled as she stopped in front of him, and her arms launched around his shoulders, “Oh, I missed you, baby.”

He hugged her back, smiling into her shoulder.

“Missed you too, mom.”

She pulled away, holding onto his shoulders and smiling. There were tears in her eyes, and he was struck by the fact that she was really telling the truth.

“I’m so glad you’re here, baby. You finally get to see Chicago! It’s so pretty at Christmas time.”

He didn’t say anything, but he was sure that Chicago had to be something special if it tore his mother away from her family.

She wrapped an arm around his shoulder and began guiding him out of the airport.

“Okay, so it’s already pretty late, so we need to get to the restaurant before it closes.”

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“A little restaurant called Ed Debevics,” his mother answered, a sly smirk on her face that had Ricky frowning, “It’s a burger joint.”

“What does that look on your face mean?” he arched an eyebrow at her, suspicious.

She let out a laugh and pulled him through a crowd of people standing around.

“Oh, nothing!” she said with a smirk.

He somehow doubted that.

* * *

Ed Debevics turned out to be a 50’s style diner in a small brick building, with lots of blues, reds, and big, flashy signs. They were guided to a booth by a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and dozens of pins along his button-down black shirt.

“Welcome to Ed Debevics,” the man stated as they sat down, “My name is Lance and I’ll be your server. If you’ve never been here before Ed Debevics is a 50’s/60’s diner with a bit of ‘attitude’,” he said, using air quotes around the last word and rolling his eyes, “If you don’t like it, too bad. Here are your menus. Don’t take too long. I’ve got about a dozen other tables with people who are obviously much richer than you.”

He finished his statement with a direct look at Ricky’s attire. He had picked his most comfortable clothes for the plane ride, but they also weren’t the most appealing.

With that, the waiter was off, leaving Ricky blinking in surprise as he held his menu in his hand.

His mother opened her menu, and there was a look on her face that he recognized as her trying very hard not to laugh at him.

He pulled out his phone and sent Nini a text.

Ricky: hey! in Chicago now. mom took me to this weird restaurant. i think the waiter is having a bit of an off day.

Nini: What restaurant is it?

Ricky: Ed Debevics. It’s some 50’s style diner.

Nini: OMG that’s the place where that rude waitress video was taken.

Ricky: what video?

“Hey, hot shot. Get off your phone,” their waiter was back, causing Ricky to jump in surprise and nearly drop his phone. Lance snorted, “It’s so nice to see teenagers connected with reality. Now, are you two ready to order, or are you going to waste my time?”

He barely heard his mother ordering as he quickly scanned his menu, trying to find something to order.

“I’ll just take a water,” he said.

“Cheap,” Lance sighed, “And what to eat? Or are you going to make me make two trips?’

“Uh, I’ll have a cheeseburger.”

“Cheap and boring. Whatever,” Lance rolled his eyes as he jotted it down, “Is there anything else that I can get for you that will be super annoying?”

“No, I think we’re good,” his mother answered, but before he could leave, she said, “Oh! Wait! My boyfriend is coming soon, so he’ll need to order when he gets here.”

Ricky’s head snapped to his mom, and he ignored his phone as it buzzed with a video sent from Nini.

Todd was coming?

“What? Mom, you said it was just going to be us.”

“Ooh, drama. Alright, tell your boy toy to wave me over when he gets here. Because that’s what I want. Another annoying customer.”

The man sighed as he walked away, and Ricky got the distinct feeling that he was trying to get away before things blew up.

His mother sighed and leaned back in the booth.

“I know. I did say that, but Todd really wants to meet you,” she said after a moment, “I had hoped you could meet at opening night, but after everything that happened, you weren’t able to.”

He shook his head. His phone buzzed again, but he ignored it.

“I don’t want to meet him.”

“Oh, don’t be like that, honey. Todd’s a nice guy. I know that you’re still upset about your dad and I separating, but don’t blame Todd for it.”

Ricky fell silent. He wrapped his arms around his chest and looked away. YMCA came over the speakers, and he watched as the servers all put down their trays and started doing a dramatic dance routine in the aisles. Some had even jumped on the front counter.

“Ricky.”

“I wish you hadn’t lied to me,” he said finally, turning his eyes from the dancing servers to his mother, “You should have told me.”

She bit her lip and sighed, nodding.

“I know. I know. That was wrong of me. I should have told you, but… Oh, there he is! Todd!”

She waved her arm over her head, face brightening. Ricky turned his head and noticed the man coming towards them, ducking to avoid the dancing servers and dressed in what looked to be a tailored suit. He slid into the seat beside Ricky’s mother and leaned over, planting a kiss on her lips.

Once he pulled away, he held out his hand towards Ricky, a smile painting his face.

“Ah, Ricky. So good to finally meet you.”

Ricky stared at the offered hand, hands firmly at his side and jaw clenched.

“Ricky,” his mother said, a tinge of warning in her voice.

He sighed and shook Todd’s hand, but he still didn’t say anything.

“I’m really sorry about him,” his mother said, “I should have just asked you to come by the apartment later.”

“And miss an opportunity to come here? Nonsense. You did great, sweetie.”

He kissed her again, and Ricky had to stop himself from gagging at the sight.

If he was going to have to deal with this all break, he wished he hadn’t come to Chicago.

* * *

The meal went by unbearably slow. To escape his mother and Todd’s flirting, he got on his phone, focusing on texting Nini and ignoring the two adults at the table. He didn’t even look up when the waiter brought them their food (which Lance made several comments about). Whenever Todd tried to talk to him, usually asking him some dumb question, he gave him one-word replies, hoping to deter him from talking to him.

He could tell that Todd was getting more and more annoyed as the night went on.

He hid a smirk of satisfaction behind his phone when he looked up and noticed the man clenching his jaw and staring at him.

He had already finished his food when his mother excused herself to the bathroom. He simply nodded and looked down at his phone, grinning at a picture that Nini sent of Carlos and Sebastian attacking each other with icing.

A hand was suddenly around his wrist, and he jumped, dropping his phone onto the table. The grip was tight, painfully so, and it squeezed harder when he tried to pull away. He looked up into Todd’s furious eyes.

“I don’t know what your game is, kid,” Todd’s voice was quiet, slithering into his ears, “but cut it out. You’re upsetting your mom. She was so excited for you to come and you’re ruining it.”

Ricky pulled on his arm, but he couldn’t get it out of the man’s grip.

“Let go,” he yelped, feeling his heart pound against his chest.

“You’re an ungrateful little brat, you know that? Your mom paid for your plane ticket, took you out to dinner, and this is how you repay her?”

Todd’s words send a shiver of guilt down his spine, but the pain erupting in his wrist kept most of his attention.

“I’m not-“

“She’s been going through hell the past few months dealing with the separation. Stop wallowing in your own self-pity and behave before you make things worse than you have already. Under-“

Someone coughed. Todd let go of his wrist suddenly and Ricky pulled it to him, rubbing it. He looked up and noticed their waiter standing by the table, a frown on his lips. He held their check in his hands.

Todd smiled at the man, as if nothing had happened.

Lance coughed, caught off guard, and Ricky saw his mind race for a moment, before he spoke.

“Alright, who is paying? Mama, Mr. Tardy, or Addicted-to-his-phone over here?”

“I’ll pay,” Todd offered, taking the check from the man’s hands, “Thank you.”

“Whatever,” Lance responded, but Ricky caught him sending a concerned look his way before he began walking to the next table.

Ricky wanted to shout, to punch Todd in the face and run back to Utah, but he was frozen, and he could hear his heart pounding in his ears. Todd’s voice bounced around in his mind.

Todd held the check in front of his face, glaring at him.

“See this? Least I can do to make up for your behavior tonight.”

Ricky’s mouth stayed firmly shut. He stared at the man, unable to get his words out of his mind.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his mother walking back towards them. He found himself watching her, eyes flickering up to her face, taking in the dark circles under her eyes for the first time.

“Hey, beautiful,” Todd said as she sat down, kissing her, “I’ll take care of the check.”

“What? Are you sure? I can pay.”

“I want to,” he said, and there was this dopey smile on his face that made Ricky look away. His stomach was squirming, and he was having a hard time thinking straight.

Todd was right. He had been acting like a jerk.

“Ricky?” his mother’s voice drew his attention, and he looked up, “Are you okay, sweetie?”

“Yeah,” he choked out, wondering just how much his mom had been struggling with the separation while he had ignored her calls and moped around.

He was a horrible son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: Ed Debevics was/is an actual restaurant in Chicago. I went there as a kid, which is why I decided to include it. The staff is required to be rude. It's part of the charm. It was the funniest thing ever when I went. They closed down a few years ago, but they're going to be reopening soon in a new location.
> 
> Also, thank you guys so much for the response! I'm glad you guys are enjoying it so far!


	3. Chess and Videogames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A video call with his friends is a welcome distraction for Ricky after the incident at the restaurant, but when he has to spend the day with Todd while his mother is at work, there aren't any distractions.
> 
> Maybe he misjudged Todd?
> 
> Maybe not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: The end of the chapter will contain some abuse towards the end, so if you want to avoid it, stop reading when Ricky starts playing Mario Kart.

_Nini: Are you home from the restaurant yet?_

Ricky stared at the text for a long moment. Truth be told, he had been back at his mother’s apartment for about half an hour now. He had escaped into the spare bedroom that she had set up for him the moment he entered through the door, claiming to be tired.

Bill’s hand had left red marks along his wrist, and he found himself staring at them as his mind raced with the man’s words, thinking back to all of the things he had said to his mother, how he had ignored her and fought with her, all while ignoring what she was probably going through.

But, then again, had his mother really worried about how he was feeling in all of this?

He wasn’t sure.

_Ricky: Yep. I’m home. Want to FaceTime?_

He turned onto his stomach on the bed, grabbing the pillow and pulling it under his chin. He tried to ignore the sounds of Todd and his mother talking in the living room. He hadn’t expected Todd to come home with them, but according to his mom, he just wanted to spend some more time with them.

Nini didn’t text back. Instead, her face suddenly appeared over his screen as she began to call him. He grinned at the sight and quickly answered.

A wave of cheers and greetings flooded over his phone, and he pulled it away in surprise. Nini was holding her phone away from her face, allowing him to see Ashlyn’s living room, filled to the brim with the drama department. He could see Kourtney next to her, waving at the camera, and Big Red and Ashlyn were sitting together on the floor, sharing a bowl of popcorn. Carlos, Seb, and E.J. surrounded the coffee table, paused in the middle of packing up Carlos’ board game to wave at the camera.

His grin turned into a full-fledged smile.

“Hey, guys!”

“Hey, Ricky! Everyone wanted to say hi. We just finished playing another round of High School Musical: The Choosical. Wildcats won this round!” Nini finished with a small cheer.

“That’s great! Wish I could be there,” Ricky said with a small, wistful sigh.

Carlos laughed as he stood up, placing a stack of cards back in the box.

“Nini showed us that video from that restaurant you were at. Seems like you had a lot of fun without us, too.”

He shifted lightly on the bed, feeling his arm sting, and remembered what had happened. He definitely wouldn’t describe anything about the event as fun, though he supposed it had been an interesting restaurant. The restaurant had definitely been unique, and looking back the servers had been pretty comical, but Todd’s words had overshadowed any humor that he might have felt looking back at it.

Still, he forced himself to smile.

“Yeah, it was definitely an experience. When they said they were a diner with attitude, I wasn’t expecting to be called cheap and boring for ordering a cheeseburger and a water.”

“I would _live_ to go there now,” Kourtney added in with a smile, “Scratch that, I want to work there!”

There was a murmur of agreement from several people around, and Ricky let out a small laugh as he pictured Nini dancing to YMCA and insulting customers.

“Have you seen The Bean yet?” Seb asked, cutting through the noise.

He shook his head and rolled onto his back, holding the phone above his face.

“Not yet. I just got in town! That’s one of the things my mom said that she wanted to take me to see, though,” he answered.

As the conversation turned away from the restaurant, Ricky found it easier and easier to forget about Todd’s words. He laughed as he answered dozens of questions from his friends, most of them things about Chicago that he had yet to see, although he was surprised by half a dozen questions about airplanes from Seb (who apparently had never flown on one).

By the time Nini hung up, everyone shouting their goodbyes, he had a genuine smile on his face that didn’t go away when he set his phone down.

He didn’t think about Todd for the rest of the night.

* * *

He caught himself the next morning right before walking out of his room and into the kitchen, eyes catching sight of the mark on his arm. The red mark had begun to turn blue, leaving a bruise along the skin, and he did not feel like telling his mom how he got it. Todd’s words came flooding back into his mind at the sight of it, and he felt himself fill up with shame.

He had half a mind to storm up to his mother and show her. Surely, if she saw that her boyfriend had hurt him, she would leave him, and maybe then she would go back to his dad.

Todd’s words kept jumping back to him, though. He had seen the effects of his parent’s separation with his dad but not his mom. His behavior was definitely not helping anything. Todd hadn’t been _wrong_ , per se, and if he really had caused his mom so much grief, should he be adding to it now?

He changed out of his pajamas and threw on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. After freshening up a bit in the bathroom, he journeyed into the kitchen for some breakfast.

Only to stop as he found himself staring at Todd sitting at the breakfast table and eating a bowl of cereal.

“Good morning, Ricky!”

He jumped as his mother appeared behind him suddenly, voice chipper as she shuffled past him and grabbed her cup of coffee, practically downing it in one gulp. She was dressed in a pantsuit and her hair was coated in hair spray.

“Hey, mom,” he said, unable to keep the lilt of confusion out of his voice.

“I have to get to work, but I’ll be home around four,” she said as she set her mug down on the table and started packing her phone, wallet, and keys into her purse, “There’s cereal in the pantry and stuff to make sandwiches for lunch. Todd’s going to keep you company while I’m gone.”

He turned as she started walking towards the door, blinking in surprise. His stomach sunk.

“Whoa, what. Mom, I’m sixteen. I don’t need a babysitter.”

She spun around towards him and pressed a kiss on his cheek, smiling.

“I know, sweetie, but I want you two to spend time together.”

“Don’t worry, Lynne,” Todd said as he stood up, walking over and placing an arm around Ricky’s shoulder, “By the time you get home, Ricky and I will be two peas in a pod. Right, Rick?”

Ricky glanced at Todd, then back at his mom. He didn’t respond.

“Great!” his mother exclaimed. She reached up and ruffled his hair before hiking her purse onto her shoulder, “I’ll see you two later. Don’t burn the house down while I’m gone!”

“No promises!” Todd called after her as she left the apartment, waving with such a wide smile on his face that Ricky was sure he would crack open.

Part of him expected for the smile to leave Todd’s face once he closed the door, remembering what had happened the night before, but it didn’t. Instead, he turned his smile towards him.

“Look, Ricky, I think we started off on the wrong foot yesterday. I was in a bad mood, and I knew that Lynne had been so happy to have you coming over, so I got upset at your behavior. But how about we pretend like nothing ever happened? No harm, no foul, right?”

Ricky bit his cheek. Annoyance rose up at the man’s words and, before he could stop himself, he wrenched his sleeve down and waved his bruised wrist in his face.

“No harm, huh?”

Todd’s hand came up to grab hold of Ricky’s arm, but Ricky jerked it back before he could touch it. Todd dropped his hand to his side and sighed.

“I hadn’t realized that I had squeezed so hard,” he said.

“Well, you did,” Ricky spat. He could feel anger bubbling up in him that he couldn’t push down, “What do you think my mom would say if she saw this?”

Todd grimaced. He held his hands up in surrender.

“Look, kid. I know you’re angry,” he said, and Ricky glared at him, “but your behavior last night was unacceptable. You really hurt your mother, and she’s too nice to call you out about it. I had to do something.”

“You didn’t have to hurt me!”

“I didn’t mean to,” he responded calmly, “But, in my defense, I love your mom, and I hate seeing her sad. I was angry. Surely you understand that, right?”

Ricky couldn’t find any words to respond. He stared at the man in front of him, unsure of whether or not he did. On one hand, he never liked it when Nini was sad, and he was angry if he knew who was responsible. On the other, he never got into fights and hadn’t hurt anyone, except for E.J. that one time, but that had been an accident, and…

Oh.

He swallowed thickly and rubbed the bruised skin on his arm. Todd had said he hadn’t meant to hurt him, and Ricky had hurt E.J. without meaning to when he hit him with the basketball. It was the same thing.

Wasn’t it?

He nodded slowly.

“Good, good!” Todd clapped him on the shoulder, a bit too hard, and maybe he really just didn’t know his strength, “Well, Lynne wants us to get to know each other, so how about we play a game?”

He really didn’t want to. He wanted to go back to his room and text Nini, or watch YouTube videos, or even do his homework. Spending time with Todd was the last thing on his mind.

But… then again, he didn’t want to disappoint his mother again.

“Okay,” he said after a moments pause, “Okay, what do you have in mind?”

* * *

The morning passed by without too much trouble.

He learned a lot about Todd. He was a professor at a nearby community college where he taught Biology, he had been divorced for five years and had a son who just graduated high school in the summer, he was a huge football fan, and he loved chess (so much so that they ended up playing it for three hours straight, and Todd beat Ricky every match).

By the time lunchtime rolled around, Ricky had concluded that he had judged Todd prematurely. He still wasn’t happy that the man was dating his mom, but he wasn’t a bad guy. He was funny and asked Ricky questions about his life, and he seemed genuinely interested when he told him about the musical.

Around two, after watching Todd take his king for what had to be the fiftieth time in a row, he offered an alternative game.

Of course, that’s when things start falling apart.

“Ah, I’m not so sure,” Todd said, shaking his head and staring at the tv as Ricky pulled up Mario Kart, “I don’t really play video games.”

“I never really play chess,” Ricky responded with a smirk. He tossed the controller at Todd, who caught it with a frown, “Relax. It’s fun.”

It took longer than he expected to teach Todd the controls, and he could tell that the man was out of his comfort zone. A part of him felt like just giving up and going back to play chess, but they had played that game all day, and he wanted to do something different.

When the first round ended, and Ricky found himself in first place, he grinned. Red usually beat him on this level, so seeing his name at first felt thrilling.

But then he saw Todd come in last, and his head turned to see the man clenching his jaw, eyes narrowed at the screen. His grin faded, and he rubbed his wrist.

“We can stop,” he said, “We can play chess again.”

“No,” Todd said, “No, let’s play again. Rematch.”

The next round passed in much the same way, and Todd huffed, gripping the controller tightly and demanding another round. His face was turning red, and Ricky swallowed thickly.

He made sure not to come in first the next round, but Todd was still in last, and the man let out an angry snarl and threw the controller at the wall.

Ricky jumped.

“Todd!” he exclaimed, jumping up from his seat and rushing over to the controller. He picked it up, stomach sinking as pieces fell off, “Dude, you broke it!”

“I don’t care,” Todd snapped. He stood up and kicked the coffee table in front of him, “This game is stupid.”

Ricky watched him warily. He gathered up the controller in his hand, trying to see if it could be put back together.

“Relax, man. It’s just a game.”

“Shut up! I don’t know why I even agreed to come here today.”

The statement hurt more than he thought it would, but he had thought that Todd had been enjoying spending time with him.

“We can play chess again?” Ricky suggested quietly.

Todd turned towards him, and his hands were clenched at his sides. Ricky was pretty sure he could see veins in his neck.

“I don’t want to play anything with _you_ ,” the man hissed, “Go to your room.”

Ricky didn’t move. His feet stayed glued to the ground, and he frowned at the man’s order.

“No,” he answered, though his voice shook slightly as he looked up into the man’s red face, “You need to calm down.”

“Calm down?” Todd shouted. His hands came up and he shoved Ricky in the shoulders, making him stumble back and catch himself on the wall, “Calm down? I am calm! Do what I said!”

If he was smart, he might have done what the man said, but instead, he pushed himself off the wall and stared defiantly at him.

“You aren’t my dad!” he spat out, “You can’t tell me what to do!”

_Smack!_

The force of Todd backhanding him was so hard that it knocked him off his feet. He stumbled to the side and caught himself on his left hand before he hit the ground. He brought his right hand to his cheek, feeling it sting from the force, and he sucked in a deep breath.

Todd had just _hit_ him.

This wasn’t him holding his wrist too hard at the diner. This wasn’t an accident. He hit him.

There was a moment where no one spoke, where the only sound in the room was Ricky’s shaky breaths and Todd’s harsh pants, but then Todd spoke up.

“Go to your room.”

His voice was quieter and calmer than before, but there wasn’t any remorse or apologies lingering in it.

Ricky pushed himself onto his feet and glued his eyes to the ground, not wanting to look at Todd. He didn’t say anything as he walked to his room and shut the door before quickly locking it. He sat down on his bed. Tears blossomed in his eyes, but he willed them not the fall. He wasn’t going to cry.

With trembling hands, he pulled his pillow to his chest, and he buried his head in it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I always love reading them. They're literally my favorite thing in the world.  
> Also, if you want, follow me on tumblr at rickyxbcwen. I reblog a lot of HSMTMTS stuff and post about my writing, so feel free to bug me about this story over there.


	4. A Rejected Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ricky comes clean to his mom, but she doesn't react how he expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heed the tags!

_Kourtney: Look at your girl <3_

The video attached to the message was of Nini. She was in a roller-skating rink and the dim light combined with purple LEDS left everything looking slightly tinted. The video shakily followed her as she skated around the rink, before leaping into the air and spinning. She landed it perfectly, and Kourtney cheered from behind the camera.

Ricky grinned at the video and watched it several times, committing it to memory.

It had been two hours since Todd had hit him. Ricky had not come out of his room once. Instead, he had listened to music and took a nap, waking up only to the notification of Kourtney’s text.

_Ricky: I guess I know where I’m taking her for out next date._

He rubbed his eyes and yawned. His cheek stung, reminding him sharply of what had happened. Instead of getting up, he pulled up his phone’s front facing camera and looked at his face.

His face hadn’t bruised yet, but it was pretty clear that it would. There was a bright red splotch on his right cheek where Todd’s hand had connected. It wasn’t something that could be covered up with a long-sleeved shirt like his wrist. He didn’t even want to cover it up.

He heard the front door open.

“Ricky! Todd! I’m home!”

He resisted the urge to run out and shout about what Todd had done. The man was still there, and he didn’t want to see him.

“Lynne! Glad you’re home. I missed you today,” he heard Todd’s voice, and he scowled. He leaned back on his bed and pulled his blanket up closer to his chin, listening.

“Where’s Ricky?” he heard his mother ask.

“His room,” Todd answered, “We… got into a bit of a fight. He just… he kept pushing my buttons. I’m sorry. I know you want us to get along.”

Ricky felt his heard lurch in his chest. He bit his lip and gripped his blanket, holding himself back from leaving his room and interjecting.

Besides, he was sure his mother would come and check on him soon. Then he would tell her.

“Todd, I’m sorry. He’s still upset about the divorce.”

“That doesn’t give him a right to act like he is. He’s been nothing but rude since he’s got here, Lynne. You don’t deserve that, and I won’t put up with it.”

He heard her sigh. His eyes flicked to the door.

“You’re right, baby,” she responded, and he almost gagged, “He shouldn’t be disrespecting you… or me. I’ll talk to him about it.”

He couldn’t help but feel hurt, even though he knew that she only knew Todd’s side of the story. He had heard enough lectures from counselors, his dad, and even Nini’s moms in his life to know that this wasn’t right. He might have been able to brush away the incident at the restaurant, but not this one. He wasn’t going to.

He just needed his mom to come to his room.

“Good,” he heard Todd say, “Now, how about we watch a movie?”

He frowned, straining his ears for his mother’s response, certain that she would say no or in a minute, that she would come and talk to him and make sure he was okay, and he would spill what was going on and show her the bruises.

But, she didn’t.

Instead, she giggled, and a few minutes later he heard the tv start playing.

* * *

Hours passed. He refused to leave his room, not wanting to see Todd’s face (and a little scared to tell his mother in front of him). So, instead, he just laid on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, blinking away tears because his mother didn’t even question Todd, didn’t even check on him after hearing that he and Todd had fought.

(He wouldn’t call it a fight, anyway).

He’s pretty sure they must have watched a second movie after the first, or done something else, because it isn’t until 9:00 that there was a knock at the door.

“Ricky?” his mother’s voice travelled over to him, “Can I come in?”

“Is Todd still here?”

“No, he left.”

“Then you can come in.”

He didn’t get up from his bed, continuing to stare at the ceiling as he heard the door swing open and his mom walk in. His hands clenched at his side. He would not cry. He would not cry.

He felt her sit next to him on the couch and reach out, bringing her hand out to his curls and gently carding through them.

“Todd said you got into an argument.”

Ricky scoffed. He pulled his pillow up to his chest and hugged it.

“I wouldn’t call it an argument.”

“Ricky,” his mother said warningly, “I know you’re upset about Todd, but he just wants to get to know you. He’s a good guy. Don’t antagonize him.”

He bit his lip, took in a deep breath, and sat up, turning so that his mom could see the mark on his cheek.

He heard her suck in a sharp breath.

“He hit me, mom,” his voice cracked as he spoke, and the tears that had been threatening to take over since Todd had hit him burned his eyes.

He knew that he was doing the right thing. He could just picture Nini’s mom, Dana, sitting both him and Nini down in first grade, a serious expression etched on her face.

_“If someone ever hurts you, tell a trusted adult.”_

He knew these things, and he trusted his mother, and he wanted Todd out of his life.

His mother stared at him. She brought a trembling hand up to his cheek and lightly touched it. Her eyes were shiny. There were tears in the them.

This was it. She was going to tell him that she was going to dump Todd, and then the rest of the holidays would just be him and her, and all of this was going to be over.

“Oh baby,” she whispered, “What did you do?”

His mind stopped working. He stared at his mother, unable to process her words. He blinked.

“What?”

“You can’t be making him mad like that, honey.”

 _“If someone ever hurts you, tell a trusted adult. They will handle it.”_ Dana had told him and Nini, sitting them down on the couch, _“You tell your parents.”_

Ricky shook his head. The tears that had been threatening to fall for hours now finally breached the barrier, sliding down his cheek. His breath caught in his throat.

“Mom, _he hit me_ ,” he emphasized. He grabbed his wrist and yanked his sleeve up, revealing the dark bruises that had formed on his pale skin, “And he did this yesterday. Mom, he _hurt_ me.”

He watched as she blinked back tears.

“You’ve got to stop making him mad. He’s a good guy. He just has a little bit of a temper. He’s never hit me before. Just behave around him and you’ll be fine.”

“Mom!”

“Honey, you’re sixteen years old. You’ll be seventeen next month,” she cut him off sternly, and he felt a tear drip off his chin, “You’re almost an adult. You don’t need me protecting you all the time anymore.”

Ricky was quiet for a long time, staring at his mother with a tear-streaked face. Dana’s words echoed in his mind, taunting him. For a moment, he was that little first-grader, nodding along to her words, confident that nothing like that would ever happen to him and, if it did, his parents would solve it.

“You’re not going to leave him?” he whispered, unable to bring his voice any louder. His entire world was crumbling around him.

“Honey, I _love_ him,” she stressed. She reached out a hand to his arm and he pulled it away harshly, “you can handle this. You’re strong. Just… try and stay on his good side, okay?”

He wanted to scream at her, but he couldn’t. She left his father, but she wouldn’t leave Todd, and she was just telling him to _deal with it_. Her boyfriend had hurt him, and she was taking his side.

Maybe she was right, though. She was his mother, after all, and he had always known her to know what to do. Maybe he was being overdramatic about it. He wasn’t six. He was almost seventeen. He wasn’t being beaten or anything. People had been through much more than he had, and he _had_ antagonized the man.

But he’d done similar things with his dad, and he’d never been hit by him.

“I know you’re angry about Todd, but you can’t let your anger cloud your judgement about him. It’s been a rocky start, but I’m sure things will get better. Just try and get along. For me. Please.”

His phone buzzed. Any response that he may have given was cut off suddenly as Nini’s face appeared on the screen, smiling and throwing a peace sign at the camera.

He frantically wiped the tears off his face as he picked up the phone.

“I-I need to take this,” he said, avoiding her eyes.

He didn’t even look up as he answered it.

“Look what I have!” Nini grinned at the camera as he answered, holding a spoonful of chocolate chip cookie dough ice-cream to her lips. She slipped it into her mouth and smiled around the spoon, but the smile fell quickly, and she pulled the spoon out, “What did you do to your face?”

He brought a hand to his face and gently touched the forming bruise. His eyes glanced over at his mother, who had stood up from the bed and was standing at the door, watching him. He could see the pleading in her eyes.

He new what her reaction would be if he told her the truth. At least, he thought he did. He also thought he knew what his mother’s reaction would be, but he had been sorely mistaken. He didn’t know if he could handle another reaction like that.

So, instead, he gave her a smile.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just ran into the door. Not used to this place yet.”

His stomach twisted. He couldn’t think of a time in his life when he had purposefully lied to Nini, and he almost took it back immediately, but then he looked over, and the relieved smile on his mother’s face stopped him.

He hadn’t been a good son lately. That much had been made perfectly clear to him. Maybe he could be one now.

Do this one thing for his mother.

He could just deal with it for two weeks.

“It looks painful,” Nini said, moving the phone closer to her face so she could see it better, “It’s definitely going to bruise. Did you put ice on it?”

He pushed himself back on the bed so that he was sitting against the wall and hugged his pillow to his chest.

“Not yet. I’ll do it later,” he answered, “How have you been? Kourtney sent me a video of you guys at the skating rink.”

She arched an eyebrow at him and shot him a look that made it perfectly clear that she knew that he was trying to change the subject. Still, she answered him anyway.

“I’ve been good. Kourtney and I went skating, so that was fun. I wish you were here, though.”

He smiled ruefully. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his mom leave the room and close the door, and he let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he had bee holding. Still, any desire he had to tell someone about what had happened had leaked out of him the moment his mom brushed him off.

“I wish I was there, too,” he said, and his voice cracked in the middle of it.

He did. He wished more than anything that he was home with Nini. He wished he had actually told his mother that he didn’t want to come. He wished that he had insisted on staying, on spending time with his girlfriend.

He wanted nothing more than to be with her right now.

But instead, he wasn’t going to be going home for two weeks, and by the time he got back, she would be heading to Denver.

A tear trickled down his cheek before he could help it.

“Ricky? Are you sure you’re okay?”

He sniffed and nodded, brushing the tear off of his cheek.

“Yeah. Yeah, of course. I just-“ he cut himself off and took in a deep breath, mustering up a weak smile, “I just really miss you, and it sucks that I won’t be able to see you again for months.”

She smiled softly, and he saw something flicker in her eyes that he couldn’t quite catch. He watched her as she walked into her bedroom and sat on her bed, and he imagined that he was in her room, laying down next to her, staring up into her eyes.

“I miss you, too,” she said.

He smiled back at her. It was nice to see her. The call the day before had everyone in it, and while he enjoyed talking to his friends, it was nice to talk to her one-on-one.

It had only been forty-eight hours since they had actually been together, but it felt much longer than that.

“Can you tell me about your day?” he said, voice quiet and trembling, “And the party? I want to hear you talk.”

He was glad when she nodded. He could tell that she wanted to say something else, to question him until he told her what was wrong, but she didn’t. Even though she had no idea about Todd, she seemed to understand that Ricky needed a distraction, that he needed her.

As she began to speak, he closed his eyes, and let himself sink into her voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so in my personal opinion, Lynne is an absolutely horribly mother, and that is getting reflected in the story. This right here is why I have the tag "Not Lynne Bowen Friendly" in my tags, because she does just brush him off and blame him for it. 
> 
> I was going to have this chapter out yesterday, but then my sister came into town over the weekend so I got busy hanging out with her. So, here it is!
> 
> Thank you guys so much for the wonderful response! We hit 100 kudus last chapter!!! Comments are my favorite thing ever so let me know what you think, and it will make me eternally grateful. 
> 
> Next chapter is going to be Ricky dealing with Christmas with his mother and Todd and, of course, things are going to get a little crazy.
> 
> And for those looking for more Rini, the chapter after the next one will be solely focused on the two of them!
> 
> Follow me at rickyxbcwen on tumblr! I'll answer any questions you have, and I post/reblog a lot of HSMTMTS stuff.


	5. Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmas, and things get a little crazy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: This chapter contains child abuse and injuries!

His mom worked all day Sunday and Todd, luckily, did not come over until his mom was home. Ricky finished all of his homework within a few hours due to pure boredom and spent the rest of the afternoon rewatching Brooklyn 99. He attempted to stay in his room even when his mother and Todd showed up at the apartment, but an hour into his attempt resulted in Todd storming into his room, grabbing his upper arm in a tight, painful grip, and demanding that he spend time with his “poor mother.”

His mom was off work Monday, and while she said that she would take him out to see Chicago when she was off, Todd pointed out the nasty bruise on his cheek and his “horrible” behavior and demanded that he stay home. He said that they didn’t want people “getting the wrong idea” or him “thinking he was being rewarded.” So, instead, he spent all of Monday holed up in his room once again, which ended up with him and Big Red sending each other random memes for two hours straight.

His mom worked again Tuesday, and Ricky thought that he would again have the day to himself, but then Todd had showed up around lunchtime to drop off some flowers for his mother in the kitchen. Before he left, he shoved him against the wall and lectured him for a good ten minutes on being good to his mom. Later that evening, his mom had gushed on and on about the flowers, and Ricky stayed silent. After Todd showed up, the only time he spoke was if he was asked a question, hoping not to say anything that would irritate Todd, but that resulted in him being kicked in the legs when his mom stepped into her room to take a phone call for “upsetting his mom.”

By the time Wednesday rolled around, he had completely forgotten what day it was.

“Merry Christmas!”

He jumped, jerked from his sleep by his mother’s chipper voice.

He blinked blearily, looking up at his mother standing at his door. It couldn’t be earlier than 6:30 in the morning, but she was already dressed and wearing makeup, ready to get the day started.

It hurt to look at her, so cheerful despite knowing that Todd had been hurting him. It hurt to remember all the times in his childhood when she and his father would do this, wake him up early to open presents, but this time it was just his mother, and she had basically admitted to him that she loved Todd more than him.

“Christmas?” he repeated, pushing himself into a sitting position and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He grabbed his phone and looked at the date, surprised to see ‘December 25th, 2019’ shining up at him.

Oh. Right. Christmas was a thing.

“I think Santa showed up last night.”

He looked up at his mother, bewildered, but then he remembered how his mother would say sort of the same thing every year when he was a kid, and he couldn’t help the sigh from leaving his lips.

He averted his eyes from her and pushed himself onto his feet. He walked past her and into the living room without a word.

A small pile of presents sat on the floor. They hadn’t gotten a Christmas tree. Ricky hadn’t even realized it until now.

“Your father sent over some gifts,” his mother said, squeezing his shoulders.

He tried, and failed, not to wince at her actions.

It was awkward, and his stomach squirmed with nerves. He had no idea how to act around his mother anymore. He couldn’t act the same around her, not after what she had said, but at the same time, he was terrified that he would do the wrong thing and Todd would get angry.

So, he settled for giving her a strained smile and sitting stiffly on the couch.

“Go on,” his mother said, “Open your presents.”

His hands trembled as he reached for the first one. He willed them not to, but they wouldn’t listen to him. He felt like he was walking on eggshells.

The present that he picked up was long, rectangular, and clumsily wrapped. Sure enough, the tag said that it was from his father, and a small, genuine smile appeared on his face.

He tore the wrapping paper off slowly and grinned at the new skateboard that he unwrapped.

“Oh, look at that,” his mother exclaimed, and he tensed at her voice.

Annoyance. Anger. Betrayal. That was what he was feeling whenever her voice entered his ears. She was trying to hard to act like the past few months had never happened, that this was just another Christmas, and not his first one with separated parents, with his mother’s boyfriend who was hurting him, and his mother would do nothing about. He was without his father for the first time.

Without Nini.

He opened the next gift. This one was from his mom. It was a pair of shoes, one that he had asked for, and somehow it hurt that she had remembered it.

He both wanted nothing to change and for her to shout that she hated him at the same time. He wanted to not be so confused, so wary.

He mumbled a thank you to her and went on to the next gift.

It passed by painfully slow, and he wanted nothing more than to be with his father doing this.

It was right after he unwrapped a video game from his dad that the door opened.

“Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!”

Todd came strutting into the apartment, dressed head to toe in a Santa costume with a bag filled to the brim with presents slung over his shoulder. His mother squealed happily, and Todd pulled the fake beard down to press a kiss to her lips.

“You’re early!” his mom exclaimed, clapping her hands and kissing him again, “You said you wouldn’t make it until lunch.”

“I wanted to surprise you!” he answered her. He slung the bag down onto the couch, “And I brought you gifts.”

Ricky turned his head as he mom gasped and began to gush about how much she loved him. He felt nauseous at the sight.

There was one gift left, and he picked it up, ignoring the two adults in the room. The gift was thin and light, and he had opened enough Christmas gifts in the past to know it was clothes. He glanced at the tag to see which parent it was from.

_“To Ricky. From Nini.”_

His entire face lit up at the sight. Nini must have sent it with his father. He would have to text her later, when he was sure she was awake, and thank her. He wondered if she got his present, too.

Unlike the previous presents, he tore into this one with renewed excitement.

It was a white hoodie with the words “Freaky Callback Boy + Freaky Math Girl” sewed into the front in black letters. As far as he knew, Nini didn’t sew, so the work was impressive, if a little messy. It was beautiful to Ricky, though.

He held the hoodie to his chest and grabbed the card. That was in the box, only to suddenly have it ripped out of his hands.

“Hey!”

Todd held the card away from him. He arched an eyebrow and cocked his head, and Ricky felt his stomach sink.

“Where’s your present for Lynne?”

“What?” he asked.

“Where. Is. Your. Present. For. Lynne?” Todd repeated dangerously.

He blinked. When he had come to Chicago, he had planned on buying his mom something when she took him out. He had even saved forty dollars from his allowance to do so. After everything that had happened (and after he had not even left the apartment once), it had completely skipped his mind.

He didn’t have one.

Guilt flooded through him.

“I-I don’t have one,” he answered in a shaky voice.

Todd stepped forward, and Ricky pushed back into the couch, clutching the hoodie close to his chest and feeling his chest tighten.

“You don’t’ have one,” Todd mocked, “How many gifts did your mother buy for you?”

Ricky glanced at the pile briefly.

“Th-th-three,” he said, voice barely above a whisper. His eyes stayed glued on the presents, away from Todd.

“Three presents! And you couldn’t even get one?” his hand shot out suddenly, and Ricky cried out as he grabbed a handful of his curls, forcing him to look up at him, “Do you know how many presents I got her? Ten! Ten presents, and her sorry excuse for a son couldn’t even get her one.”

He reached up and grabbed Todd’s hand, trying to get him to let go of his hair as pain shot through his scalp.

“I’m sorry!” he yelped, twisting in an effort to get free, “Let go!”

“Todd, it’s okay. Really,” his mom said, sounding nervous.

Todd ignored her. He reached down and wrenched the hoodie out of Ricky’s hands. Ricky cried out, reaching for it.

“Give that back!”

Todd yanked on his hair hard and held the hoodie out of his reach.

“What’s this?” he asked tauntingly.

“Stop! My girlfriend gave me that!”

“Oh, did she now?”

He pulled his hair again, and Ricky suddenly found it in himself to react. He kicked out his leg hard, aiming right between the man’s legs, and pulled away quickly when Todd let go of his hair with a shout.

Ricky grabbed the hoodie off the floor where the man had dropped it and bolted into his room. He slammed the door shut and locked it, hearing Todd shout in anger from the living room.

He scrambled back from the door to the bed, and suddenly Todd was banging on the door and jiggling the doorknob, trying to get to him, and Ricky couldn’t breathe.

“You little brat!” Todd shouted, slamming his fist against the door.

Ricky’s heart pounded against his chest. So far, Todd had never hurt him too badly. He’d left bruises, but nothing that wouldn’t go away within a week or two. Ricky had never fought back, either, and Ricky wasn’t eager to find out what the man would do.

“OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!” Todd screamed, and Ricky’s eyes flickered around the room frantically, “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”

Ricky suddenly did not doubt the man at all.

His eyes darted to the window by his bed. They were in a second story apartment, but it was either the window or facing an enraged Todd.

He climbed onto his bed and wrenched the window open, staring out at the ground below him. It was snowing outside, and he wasn’t even wearing any shoes. If he left…

“I WILL TAKE THIS DOORKNOB APART IF YOU DON’T OPEN THE DOOR RIGHT THIS MINUTE!”

He made up his mind. He pulled the hoodie on over himself and then climbed out the window. He held onto the sill, letting his body hang, and took a deep breath.

The door slammed open suddenly, and he dropped.

He hit the ground hard. His ankle rolled painfully, and he caught himself with his hands, scraping them against the concrete that had only recently been cleared of snow. He hissed through his teeth.

“Get back in here!” Todd shouted from above him, leaning out the window.

That was not about to happen.

He pushed himself onto his feet and stumbled as his ankle threatened to give out from under him. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he gave up now, though, so he forced down the pain that shot up from his ankle and took off down the street.

No phone. No wallet. No way of even knowing where he was.

* * *

He wasn’t sure how long he ran, but the knowledge that Todd could be following him kept him going. He didn’t stop until his ankle gave out, and he collapsed into a pile of snow, panting and shivering.

He didn’t even know where he was anymore. It was some park, completely empty due to it being Christmas, and covered to the brim with the fluffy snow.

“What am I going to do?” he whispered to himself, bringing his frigid hands up and covering his face. The bruise on his cheek protested at the touch, but it was covered by the throbbing pain coming from his ankle and the piercing cold coming from… everywhere else.

If he went home, Todd would probably kill him. If he stayed here, he would freeze to death.

And he wasn’t even sure if he knew _how_ to get home.

His palms stung against the cold snow as he pushed himself up. He pulled his pants leg up and grimaced down at his swollen ankle.

He didn’t think it was broken, but it was definitely sprained.

“Dang it,” he whispered.

His eyes scanned the park, settling on a nearby bench.

He spent the next ten minutes hopping to the bench, taking breaks to pant for breath. When he finally arrived, he used the sleeve of his hoodie to wipe the snow off of the bench and settled on it. A sigh of relief left his lips, his breath crystallizing in front of him.

He laid on the bench, trying to catch his breath, to rest for just a moment.

His eyes slipped closed before he even realized it.

* * *

“Ricky. Ricky, wake up.”

He opened his eyes slowly. He found himself staring up into the face of a girl, bundled up from head to toe, brown eyes staring worriedly down at him as she shook his shoulder, lips trembling. Her hair was tucked into the hood of her coat, but he could recognize that face anywhere.

“Nini?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whaaaaaat? I think this is the first time I've left an actual cliff hanger in this story, but the plot is starting to pick up now. Leave me a comment, and let me know what you think!
> 
> Follow me at Rickyxbcwen on tumblr if you haven't already, and feel free to bug me over anon or message me just to talk. I need some friends in this fandom. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for the responses so far! I love you all!


	6. A Moment of Refuge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nini's in Chicago. Despite everything that happened, Ricky couldn't be happier.

“What are you doing out here, Ricky?”

Ricky stared up at her, brain feeling like it was moving an inch an hour. He brought his hand up to touch her face and she caught it, frowning at his freezing skin. She huffed and shook her head disapprovingly, before reaching into her purse and pulling out a set of gloves, stuffing his hands into them and frowning at the scrapes on the palms.

“Nini?” he croaked out.

There were tears in her eyes. She ruffled through her bag and pulled out her phone. She sent a text, silent, and he watched as a tear slipped down her cheek.

“Nini?” he repeated. He blinked slowly and was dimly aware that his body was shivering violently, “Am I hallucinating?”

Nini was in Utah. Nini was not in Chicago.

“Depends,” Nini, or not-Nini, said slowly. She wiped the tear from her face and offered him a shaky smile, “What are you seeing?”

“The most beautiful girl in the world,” he answered with a dopy smile.

She blushed and patted his head, leaning down to press a soft kiss to his forehead. Her lips were warm against his skin and he leaned into it.

“You’re definitely hallucinating, then. It’s just Nini,” she said with a light laugh, but she was still crying.

He tried to push himself up but fell back down, staring at the sky. Snow continued to waft down, landing on his face.

“How?” he asked.

It was Christmas. Nini was in Utah with her mothers, not here in Chicago in some park with him, no matter how much he wanted her to be.

“Well, after you told me that you were going to Chicago for the break, I talked to my moms. Mama C came up with the idea to surprise you on Christmas. She’s always wanted to go to Chicago, anyway,” Nini explained. Her voice was calm, but she seemed distressed about something, “So, last night we got on a plane and flew to Chicago. We told your mother that we were coming to surprise you today, so when you ran off with no phone, wallet, or shoes, she called us to ask for our help.”

“Oh,” he breathed out, his eyes glued to her face.

“So, we have spent the last hour searching everywhere for you,” Nini continued. She swallowed and brought a glove-covered hand out to his bruised cheek, gently touching it, “We all split up to look for you… and here we are.”

He took in a deep breath and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. This time, he made it, and Nini helped him. He hissed when his foot hit the ground.

“Well,” he said, voice quiet, “I’m surprised.”

A laugh left her lips. She kissed him again, this time on the lips, and he leaned into her.

“I texted Mama C and shared my location, so she should be here soon. Then, we can get you home.”

His heart skipped a beat. He shook his head and pulled back, meeting her eyes. If he went home, he was sure that Todd would kill him. Not only had he not given his mom a gift, he had fought back and run away. On Christmas, even. If he went home, he was dead.

“No, I-I-I can’t go home.”

Nini furrowed her eyebrows.

“Ricky, your mother is worried about you.”

“I _can’t_ , Nini. Not right now. _Please_.”

She must have understood how terrified he was, because she swallowed hard and nodded. She sat down next to him on the bench and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, rubbing his back. He leaned into her.

He didn’t want to tell her. He was terrified of repeating what happened with his mother. But if he went home… No, he couldn’t go home.

“Okay, okay,” Nini said softly, “I’ll tell Mama C to take us to the hotel.”

He nodded against her, curling into her body. She was warm, and his body was shaking more than he thought possible. His foot ached still, but he tried to ignore it and focus on Nini. Nini. She was _here_.

They stayed like that for a while, curled into each other, basking in each other’s presence. His thoughts were still sluggish, keeping him from figuring out how to voice his many questions, so he closed his eyes and let himself relax against his girlfriend.

He did not realize that he had fallen asleep, but then Nini was suddenly shaking his shoulder.

“Mama C is here,” she said softly into his ears.

He blinked his eyes open and saw Carol jogging over to them, her car parked a little ways off. She had a coat, a blanket, and a hat in her arms, and concern was painted across her face.

Ricky pushed himself up, wincing. His head spun.

“Oh, Ricky,” Carol shook her head as she came to a stop in front of them. She juggled with the fabric in her arms and then pulled the hat over his head. She handed him the coat, “Put this on. You’re probably freezing.”

He took in a breath and nodded, clumsily sticking his arms through the sleeves of the jacket. It was warm, and a sigh left his lips.

“Oh dear, your feet.”

He glanced down at where she was looking. His right ankle was still swollen, and he was just now noticing that the bottoms of his feet were scraped and bloody from running barefoot.

“I think I sprained my ankle,” he said, though he was sure that she could tell.

Carol levelled him with a steady stare and handed the blanket over to Nini, who quickly wrapped it around him. He sighed in contentment as warmth spread through his body, though his feet were still freezing. He wiggled his toes and hissed as pain shot up his right foot at the action.

“Okay, okay. Nini, help me get him to the car. He needs to be in the heat.”

Ricky suddenly found himself hoisted onto his feet. He bit his lip hard as he unconsciously put weight on his foot, and quickly hopped onto his left one. Carol and Nini came on either side of him, helping him hop forward, and if he wasn’t so out of it, he would have been embarrassed at his condition.

The walk to the car seemed to take forever, but finally they reached it. Carol opened up the backdoor and helped Ricky in, with Nini scooting in beside him.

The door shut, closing out the cold air, and the moment Carol was in the driver’s seat, the heat began to blow.

He leaned forward, head resting on the seat in front of him.

“That’s nice.”

“Take us back to the hotel,” Nini said, arm wrapped around Ricky’s shoulder, “he doesn’t want to go home.”

Carol looked back at them through the rearview mirror, eyebrows furrowed, but she nodded.

It was after a few minutes of tense silence that Nini finally spoke up. She clutched his gloved hand, gently rubbing it.

“What happened?”

“Had a fight with Todd,” he mumbled, biting back anything else that threatened to come spilling past his lips. He didn’t like lying to Nini, but that wasn’t technically a lie, and he couldn’t bear the thought of Nini brushing it off like his mom had. He didn’t want her to think that he was weak or know how much of a horrible son he was.

He didn’t want her to know.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, her tone soft and gentle.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. Thinking about Todd made him feel nauseous, and he just wanted to be with Nini.

“No, he’s just a jerk,” he answered. He turned to look at her, smiling at the sight, “I really missed you.”

She squeezed his hand and rested her head on his shoulder.

“I missed you, too.”

* * *

The rest of the ride to the hotel passed by in relative silence. Nini and Carol helped him out when they arrived, letting him lean on them as he hobbled into the building and to the elevator. Upon arriving to their room, he was sat down on the bed, and Carol grabbed a blanket, bunched it up, and elevated his ankle. She prodded it gently, and he winced.

“I think you’re right. It’s just sprained. You need to keep your weight off of it,” Carol said. Her eyes flicked back up to his face, and he saw her eyeing the bruise. She was suspicious, “Is that bruise connected to your little escapade in any way?”

He hesitated, and for a moment, he almost told her. He wanted to, because he didn’t want to go home and be around Todd anymore. At the same time, though, he knew that he couldn’t. He could handle it. He could be a good son.

“No, I ran into a door,” he answered, quickly thinking back to the lie that he had told Nini and ignoring the guilt that trickled up his spine, “It looks worse than it is.”

Nini squeezed his hands as Carol levelled him with a stare. She sat down on the bed across from him and placed a gentle hand on his arm. He bit down the urge to pull it away, remembering when Todd had grabbed him.

“Ricky, it isn’t like you to just run off like that, especially so unprepared. You could have caught hypothermia out there or been attacked by somebody. I know that something is going on,” Carol said, “You had a fight with Todd. Is that all?” she was quiet for a moment, “Did he hurt you?”

He could practically feel Todd’s hands in his hair, wrenching his head back. He could hear the shouts in his ears, see his hands flying at him.

A nervous laugh left his lips.

“Of course not. Todd’s a good guy. I was just being stupid.”

“Ricky…” Nini trailed off, frowning.

He squeezed her hand and smiled.

“’m fine, Nini.”

She continued to frown, but a sigh left her lips. She shook her head.

“For goodness sake, Ricky. We’re apart for five days and you turn into a walking disaster.”

A laugh burst from his chest. He grinned at her and pressed a kiss to her lips.

He had missed her so much.

“Okay, lovebirds. Hold your horses,” Carol said, but there was a small smile upon her face, “Ricky, do you promise me that you’re safe?”

His grin fell. He swallowed thickly and looked away, stomach twisting. He didn’t want to lie. He really didn’t. He wanted, desperately, not to go back to his mother’s apartment. Maybe if he told them, he could go home with them and spend the rest of the break with his dad. Maybe he would never see Todd again.

But if they listened to him, his mom could get in trouble. Or they could tell him that he was being dramatic.

Honestly, he probably _was_ being dramatic.

“I promise,” he responded. His voice cracked in the middle of it, but he mustered up a smile.

Carol hesitated, but then she nodded.

“Okay. If you promise.”

He gave her a shaky smile. Nini squeezed his hand and leaned into him.

“I’ll leave you two to spend some time together,” Carol said, patting Ricky’s knee, “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Mama C.”

* * *

Carol Salazar-Roberts had known Ricky since the boy was only five years old. She had watched him grow up alongside her daughter, watched him fall in love with her daughter. She loved him like a son.

Which was why when Nini came to her in tears after finding out that Ricky wasn’t going to be able to spend Christmas break with them and, thus, the last day of school would be the last time they saw each other until Nini’s first break at Youth Actor’s Conservatory , Carol suggested that they take a vacation to Chicago for a few days to surprise him. Dana hadn’t been able to get off work for the days around Christmas, so they celebrated Christmas early and she and Nini got on a plane.

And then they got a call from Lynne that Ricky had run off, and they had spent an hour searching before Carol got the text from Nini that she had found him.

She knew when Ricky was lying to her. She had memorized his ticks alongside Nini’s. He was lying when he said he wasn’t in danger.

So, she left Ricky and Nini to spend some time together, and she went straight for Lynne Bowen’s apartment.

Lynne swung the door open, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was a mess. Her hair, which Carol had only ever seen to be perfectly in place, was messy and sticking up everywhere, and her mascara leaked down her cheeks. She soared forward the moment the door was open, wrapping her arms around Carol and crying into her shoulder.

“I can’t believe he just ran like that,” she cried, clutching her, “I was so scared!”

Carol put her hands on the woman’s shoulders and gently pushed her back, smiling gently at her.

“Hey, it’s okay, Lynne. He’s safe now. I’ve got him at my hotel. He’s spending time with Nini.”

Lynne sniffed and wiped the tears off her face, but they continued to trickle down.

“Can I come in?” Carol asked.

Lynne nodded and stepped away. Carol stepped foot into the apartment, glancing around briefly. It was a small apartment, but it looked well-kept, save for the presents that were strewn around the living room. The furniture seemed to be new and in good shape, and there were photos covering the wall of Lynne and Todd, as well as a few of Ricky, but they were all when he was much younger.

Carol didn’t know Lynne all that well. From what she knew, the woman was always out of town for her job, and when she was home, she was still working, constantly on her phone. Ricky thought the world of her, though, and Mike never complained about his wife even though she knew that their relationship was strained. She knew that their recent split had hurt Ricky more than he would admit. She wondered if Carol knew that.

“Todd went for a drive to clear his head,” Lynne said as she sat down on her couch, sniffing, “He feels horrible for what happened.”

There was something in her words that led Carol to believe that she wasn’t completely telling the truth, but she simply bit her lip and sat next to the woman.

“Lynne, can you tell me what happened? Ricky wouldn’t tell me.”

Lynne stiffened. She looked away and stared at a picture of a seven-year-old Ricky on the wall. She tore her gaze away and looked at her.

“Todd has a bit of a temper, and I think that Ricky doesn’t like him because… well, because he’s not his dad. He doesn’t like our relationship. They got into a fight this morning, and Ricky ran off.”

Carol sighed. She brushed her hair out of her face and leaned back on the couch.

“Lynne, I know Ricky. He doesn’t just run off. What was the fight about?”

Lynne hesitated.

“Ricky didn’t buy me a gift, and Todd got onto him about it. It really wasn’t a big deal. Ricky’s just upset because of… everything, so he’s been acting out.”

Carol frowned. Somehow, she couldn’t see how Ricky would run out of the apartment without his phone or wallet, still wearing pajamas (and a hoodie), and no shoes in the middle of the winter. She couldn’t see how Ricky would run until his feet were bleeding, and at some point, having sprained his ankle. She couldn’t see how a little fight like Lynne was explaining would leave Ricky begging not to go home.

“Lynne,” she said slowly, “How did Ricky get that bruise on his face?”

She stiffened, and her eyes narrowed.

“What are you implying, Carol?”

“I’m not implying anything. I’m just asking a question.”

There was a pause. Carol could feel her stomach in knots over the possible answer. She couldn’t imagine Lynne hurting her own son, but if she was, Carol was prepared to act.

She also knew that it might not be Lynne. Both of them had said that Ricky had been in a fight with Todd. Carol had never met Todd, but if the man was hurting her boy…

She thought back to Ricky’s excuse.

_“I ran into a door.”_

“I think he fell off his skateboard.”

Carol clenched her jaw at the opposing stories. Something in the back of her mind whispered that neither were correct.

“That’s not what he said.”

Lynne laughed nervously. Her eyes flicked away from her.

“How am I supposed to remember that? He’s a teenage boy. They’re always getting hurt. He-“

“Lynne,” she interrupted, voice stern, “Do I need to take Ricky home?”

There was silence for a moment. She could see the gears moving in Lynne’s head, pondering, but then she shook her head firmly.

“Of course not, Carol. Ricky’s fine.”

Ricky was most certainly _not_ fine. That much was obvious.

“Lynne…”

“Carol, Ricky’s fine. He’s just an angsty teenager. You of all people should know that. You’re raising a teenager as well,” she stood up suddenly before Carol could respond, “Now, I’d appreciate it if you left. I don’t need you criticizing my parenting.”

Carol stood up, but she didn’t leave. She levelled Lynne with a stare, catching her eyes.

“If you or your boyfriend are hurting Ricky-“

“No one’s hurting Ricky!” Lynne exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air, “Get out of my home!”

Lynne pointed to the door, and Carol knew that she wasn’t going to get anything out of her. Fists at her side, she walked to the door, but turned around just outside of it.

“If I find out that Ricky is being hurt in this apartment and you know about it and haven’t done anything-“

“Out!”

The door slammed in her face. She sighed. She knew that something was wrong, and neither Lynne nor Ricky was going to tell her. Her stomach twisted.

What was she going to do?

* * *

Ricky and Nini were three episodes into Brooklyn 99, laying on the bed with Nini resting her head against his chest, when Carol returned with two large pizzas.

“Guess who found an open Dominos!” she exclaimed as she entered, a bright smile on her face.

“Pizza!” Nini jumped up from the bed, “Thank you, Mama C!”

“No problem, kiddo,” Carol ruffled her hair and handed her the top pizza. She flopped down on the chair next to the bed and arched her head to see the television, “Ooh, we’re watching B99?”

Nini sat down next to Ricky and opened up the pizza. She grabbed a piece and stuck it in her mouth, moaning with joy. Ricky grinned at her.

“The episode is almost over,” he told Carol as he took a slice of pizza for himself.

“Aw, phooey.”

Nini’s phone beeped. She snorted at her mother as she picked up her phone, but then nearly choked on her pizza as she read the text.

Ricky arched an eyebrow at her and patted her on the back.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Holy- Remember how Carlos posted some clips from our show on YouTube?”

“Yeah?”

Nini turned her phone so that Ricky could see the text from Carlos. It was sent to a group chat that he had made, so he was sure that he had it on his phone at home.

_Carlos: “Wondering” just hit 50,000 views on youtube! You’re a star, Ashlyn!_

“Fifty thousand?” Ricky’s mouth dropped open. He turned to stare at Nini, “It’s just a school performance. How did it get that many views?”

“In case you haven’t realized, Ashlyn has the voice of an angel,” Nini laughed gleefully. Carlos had linked the video in his text, so she clicked on it and pulled the video up. Sure enough, the view count read 50,204.

_“Seems like a part of me will always have to lose  
Every single time I have to choose”_

“Oh, that song made me cry when I heard it,” Carol said, leaning over them to see the video, “It’s so good.”

_“Swore that it felt right, but was I wrong?  
Is this where I'm supposed to be at all?”_

Ricky nodded in agreement. He’d been more than impressed when he heard that Ashlyn had wrote the song herself.

_“I don’t have the answers, not today  
It's like nothing makes the questions go away  
What I'd give to see if the grass was greener  
On the other side of all I’ve had and lost  
Would it be enough, or would I still be wondering?”_

There was a sudden knock on the door, and Nini jumped, the phone falling out of her hands. Ashlyn’s voice continued to play through the room.

Ricky glanced over at Carol. The woman frowned as she stood up and made her way to the door, peeking out through the peep hole.

“It’s your mom, Ricky,” she said, and there was something in her voice that he couldn’t quite catch.

He sucked in a breath at that and squeezed Nini’s hand. He didn’t want to see his mom at the moment, and he really didn’t want to leave Nini.

The door swung open. His mother avoided looking into Carol’s eyes as she stepped in.

“Ricky, let’s go.”

He swallowed hard and didn’t move. He couldn’t.

“Lynne,” Carol said softly, “It’s Christmas. Let them hang out with each other for a bit.”

“He ran away, _Carol_. He shouldn’t be rewarded for that,” Lynne responded. There was anger in her eyes that Ricky hadn’t seen before, and his breath hitched in his chest. She turned to him with fiery eyes, “Ricky, _let’s go_.”

_“If I could go back and change the past  
Be a little braver than I had  
And bet against the odds  
Would I still be lost?”_

He licked his lips. A part of his mind screamed at him to refuse, knowing that whatever waited for him back at her place was not going to be good, but another part, a stronger part, told him to obey her.

If he didn’t, it could be worse.

And besides, he didn’t want his mother to get into trouble.

He nodded and gently pushed himself to his feet.

“Ricky,” Carol turned to him, desperation in her eyes, “Ricky, you don’t have to go. If you’re not safe-“

“Stay out of it, Carol. He’s fine,” Lynne interrupted. She approached Ricky and wrapped her arms around him, helping him stand up. Ricky couldn’t help but flinch back when she did it. He wasn’t sure why. She had never hurt him before.

He swallowed and leaned on her, unable to put weight on his ankle. He hobbled forward as she began to move towards the door, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

He couldn’t find it in himself to confess anything.

“Ricky,” Nini pleaded. He turned his head towards her. She was crying.

He forced himself to smile at her. He wondered when he would see her next.

“I’m fine, Nini,” he told her, wincing as he put weight on his foot on accident.

He met her eyes and wished nothing more to kiss her one more time. Every fiber in his body was screaming at him to tell them, to refuse to go with his mother.

He didn’t.

“I love you, Nini,” he said. It felt like a death sentence.

Nini sniffed. She brushed a tear from her cheek and smiled shakily.

“I love you too, Ricky.”

_“Maybe I should turn around and take the other road_  
Or maybe I'm just lookin' for what I already know  
I'm just wondering”

He and his mom stepped out of the room, and the door shut behind them. It sounded like the executioner’s axe.

“Let’s go home, Ricky. We need to talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was the longest one yet! I was really excited to write it because it is a pivotal moment of the story. 
> 
> I wasn't completely sure whether or not to include the scene between Lynne and Carol, as the rest of the story has so far been written entirely focused on Ricky, but I felt like it was a scene that the readers need to see to understand things that go on next chapter. I'll probably do that a few other times later on in the story, where I focus on a few other characters instead so that the plot makes sense. 
> 
> Thank you all for reading! Leave a comment and let me know what you think! I love hearing everything you guys have to say!


	7. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Todd goes farther than he ever had before, and Ricky makes a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains child abuse and descriptions of blood and injuries.

The ride home was silent. Ricky stared out the passenger’s side window, watching as the trees and buildings flew by. The farther they got from the hotel, the more Ricky felt like he had made the wrong decision in not telling them what was going on. His chest felt tight and tears pricked at his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

They pulled up to the apartment, and Ricky stared up at his prison with apprehension.

“Ricky,” his mother said, speaking for the first time the entire ride. His head snapped to her, “You can’t be doing this. Running away, hurting yourself. Carol’s suspicious. She thinks we’re _hurting_ you.”

‘You are’, he wanted to say, but he didn’t.

“You know I love you, honey, but you’re making this so difficult for me.”

He felt sick. He wanted to run, to find his way back to Nini’s hotel and apologize for lying and beg for them to take him back to Utah. He couldn’t take ten more days of this. He didn’t care if he had to stay at _EJ’s_ house. Anything was better compared to this.

His door opened and he jumped, but his mother just reached in and helped him out of the car. He swallowed thickly as he leaned on her, slowly inching his way to the apartment and up the stairs.

His heart was in his throat as the door opened.

Todd was sitting on the couch. He had changed out of his Christmas outfit and into a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. There was a bottle of beer in his hands, and from his movements as his head rolled around to face them, he was very obviously drunk.

He flew to his feet the moment he saw them.

“Get in here,” he hissed.

His mother gently pushed him forward and shut the door behind him. Ricky stared at Todd. His chest felt tight. He couldn’t breathe.

The man soared forward. He grabbed him by hoodie and shoved him back into the wall. Ricky’s arms flew forward to protect himself, but he was too slow, and suddenly Todd’s fist connected with his nose.

He cried out as he heard a crack. Pain blossomed across his face, and blood trickled down his chin.

“Todd!” his mother exclaimed.

“Go to your room, Lynne. I don’t want you to see this,” Todd said. He let go of Ricky suddenly, and Ricky crumpled onto the ground, shielding his face more, panting for air. His nose throbbed, and his heart pounded against his chest, as if it wanted to escape the situation as much as he did.

“Mom,” he whimpered, peering out from behind his hands. Todd was in front of him, and he was taking off his belt. His mother stood behind, staring at the scene with a conflicted expression, “Mom, _please_. Help!”

For a moment, he thought she would. She stepped forward, eyes wide as she watched as Todd snapped the belt in his hand, but then she stopped, shook her head, and turned around. He watched with a sinking stomach as she shut her bedroom door behind her.

“You’re an ungrateful, little brat. You know that? Trying to get me in trouble,” Todd hissed out. Ricky raised his hands above himself, shaking, “You need to learn a lesson.”

The belt soared through the air, slicing it like a knife.

* * *

It felt like hours later when he was shoved into his room. His door slammed closed and he crumpled onto his bed, body trembling like a leaf.

He had lost his hoodie at some point. Todd had decided that if he was going to whip him with the belt, it would be on his bare back. So, the hoodie that Nini had given him, which was already stained with blood, had been tossed aside, and he had curled up and cried out for his mom, but she never came.

He hissed as his back hit the bed, quickly rolling onto his stomach. Okay, sleeping on his back until further notice.

His face throbbed. He gingerly brought his hand up to touch his nose before yanking it away.

Yeah. Definitely broken.

There had been a split second out there, while Todd slung the belt onto his skin over and over again, that Ricky was sure the man would kill him.

He had to get away.

* * *

He wasn’t sure when he had fallen asleep, but he woke up to the sound of his phone ringing from the living room. He contemplated going to get it, but he wasn’t sure if Todd was still around or not, and he couldn’t bring himself to face the man again. Instead, he squeezed his eyes shut and strained his ears.

Footsteps walked through the living room, and then he heard his mother speak.

“Hello?”

She must have answered his phone.

“Mike? It’s Lynne... No, you can’t talk to Ricky. He’s grounded.”

Why was his dad calling?

Oh. Right. It was Christmas.

“Mike, he ran away today… Yes, we found him… No, he just got into a fight with Todd and took off… I _know_ it isn’t like him.”

Well, _that_ was simplifying things, wasn’t it?

“ _Goodbye_ , Mike.”

He heard his mom sigh as she hung up the phone. His head rolled over to the window. It was dark outside, and he didn’t hear Todd shouting about his dad calling and being suspicious, so he figured the man must have gone home for the night.

Good. His face and back were stained with blood, and he really needed to wash it off.

He winced as he gingerly pushed himself off of his bed. His ankle protested loudly as he put weight on it but he ignored it as he began to gingerly limp out of his room.

He hesitated by the door but took a deep breath and opened it.

His mom was in the living room, sitting on the couch. Her head was in her hands, but she looked up when he opened the door and cringed at the sight of him.

He ignored her. He didn’t want to look at her. She hadn’t even tried to stop Todd. She had left the room so that she didn’t have to see as Todd beat him.

She was his mother, and she had just _let it happen._

“Ricky,” she said, her voice faltering.

He walked straight past her and into the bathroom, closing the door harshly behind him. His eyes caught sight of himself in the mirror before he even realized it and he winced at the sight.

His nose was definitely broken. It didn’t look like it was out of place or anything, which was good, but it looked like a huge bruise. Blood was smeared across his cheeks and chin, some even having dripped down onto his neck and chest and even in his hair.

He turned slightly to get a look at his back. The belt had left welts across his skin which crisscrossed into an indistinguishable pattern. The buckle of the belt had hit a few times, breaking the skin and drawing blood, which had dried against his back.

He grimaced. His eyes flicked over to the shower, which stared back at him tauntingly. No way was he going to step in that. He could just imagine how much the water pressure would hurt.

Instead, he grabbed a rag and wet it. He leaned over the sink and gently brought the rag to his face…

Only to pull it away with a hiss of pain.

“Okay, Ricky,” he whispered to himself, taking in deep breaths. Tears sprung to his eyes and he forced them away, “You can do this.”

He brought the rag back to his cheek and then, slowly, carefully, began to wash the dried blood off.

There was a sudden knock at the bathroom door. He jumped and turned around quickly.

“Ricky,” his mother called. Her voice was quiet, “Ricky, can I come in?”

He wasn’t sure why he opened the door. He was angry, so unbelievably angry, at his mother. Part of him was angrier at her than Todd, because she was his mother and she was choosing some guy over him. Still, for some reason, he opened the door.

He didn’t look at her, but he felt her presence as she entered the bathroom. She took the rag from his hands and took over, gently wiping the blood from his face.

He was angry, so why did he feel like crying?

He bit his lip to keep himself from saying anything as his mother gently washed his face. She then put her hand on his shoulder, gently twisting him, and began to do the same to his back.

It wasn’t until after she had finished, setting the stained-red rag on the side of the tub, that Ricky spoke up.

“I want to go home.”

He heard her sigh, but he still refused to look at her, fists clenched at his sides.

“Just nine more days, Ricky.”

“I want to go home _now_.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

He looked up at her sharply. The tears that had sprung to his eyes slipped down his cheek, and his fists shook.

There were tears in her eyes, too, but he didn’t care. She wasn’t going to make him feel guilty anymore.

“I don’t want your dad to get suspicious, Ricky.”

“I don’t care.”

“I do. Ricky, I can’t lose Todd. Honey, he’s going to be sleeping over the next few days. Can you at least _try_ to get along with him?

She reached out and grabbed his wrist, but he wrenched it out of her grip and stood up sharply, ignoring the pain that shot through his ankle.

“I _hate_ you,” he hissed out, “I’m your son. He’s hurting me and you don’t even care.”

“Ricky, I care about you.”

“Don’t lie to me,” his voice broke. He put his hand on the wall and began to limp out of the bathroom.

“Ricky!”

He ignored her. He was done with her. He limped out of the bathroom and snatched his phone from the counter before going into his room. He slammed his door shut and locked it.

He just had to figure out how he was going to get leave.

* * *

The next day, Ricky did not leave his room once. He kept the door locked and laid in bed, browsing through his phone and trying to figure out what he could do.

He considered calling his dad, but he didn’t want him calling his mom and his mom telling Todd. He considered texting Nini, but he was terrified of what Todd might do to her if he found out. He even considered calling the police, but despite how angry he was at his mother, he didn’t want to get her in trouble.

He jumped as he heard a knock at the door.

“Food is here,” he heard Todd say, “Hand me a twenty from my wallet.”

His stomach growled. He hadn’t had anything since the day before when Carol had brought back pizza, and he had no desire in going out there to get any food. He didn’t want to face Todd.

There was a moment where no one talked, and then he heard his mother speak up.

“Todd, put some of this money in the bank. There has to be at least five hundred dollars in here!”

Ricky perked up. He strained his ears to try and hear more, mind beginning to race.

“Well, don’t shout it to the whole world, Lynne. I like having some cash on me.”

“This is Chicago. If you get pick-pocketed-“

“Oh, relax, baby. I’ll be fine. Hand over that twenty.”

Ricky felt his heart beating against his chest. He heard Todd thank the delivery man and pay, but he couldn’t keep the smile off of his face.

An idea was beginning to form. He wasn’t sure if it would work, and it would require a lot of luck and patience, but if he could pull it off…

He could go home.

He grabbed his phone and stared at it for a while.

If this was going to work, he was going to need help… and it had to be from someone that would ensure that word would not get back around to his mom.

He opened up his phone and sent out a text.

_Ricky: EJ, I need your help._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so last chapter was my longest one yet, and this is my shortest one yet. Oops. This chapter was hard to write, because I knew how it needed to start and end, but the middle part was not coming together very well. Next chapter will be longer. I promise.
> 
> Thank you all so much for your support. I love reading your comments! Let me know what you thought about this chapter!


	8. Freedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ricky runs away again. This time, he has a plan.

The apartment was dark and quiet when Ricky slipped out of his room. He had changed into a pair of clean jeans, a long-sleeved shirt with his jean jacket over the top, and his favorite pair of vans. His bag was slung over his shoulder, and every limped step that he took caused it to rub against the wounds on his back.

He refused to let that deter him. If he was going to get away, he couldn’t let his injurie hold him back.

His mom had said that Todd was sleeping over, and as the day had gone on, and he hadn’t heard Todd leave, that was proven to be correct. Even now, as he stepped out into the living room, he could hear the man snoring from his mother’s bedroom, completely unaware that Ricky was awake.

He gulped and eyed his mother’s bedroom door with trepidation.

This could go wrong very quickly. If Todd caught him… well, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the man wouldn’t kill him.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he quickly fished it out.

_EJ: whatever you’re doing, stay safe. I don’t want to be an accomplice to your murder._

He winced lightly. He knew that EJ was saying it as a joke, that he didn’t know the full story. All he knew was what he had agreed to help with. Ricky couldn’t bring himself to tell him anymore.

He sent back a thumbs up and put his phone back in his pocket, taking a deep breath.

It was now or never.

He approached his mother’s door slowly, heart pounding against his chest.

He reached for the knob, grabbed the cool metal, and turned.

It was locked.

“Crap,” he whispered, heart sinking. A locked door could turn him around, completely ruin any chance he had of getting away without involving other people and having to risk getting the same response as he got from his mom. A locked door meant the difference between him getting out or having to wait eight days with a man who could murder him.

He eyed the doorknob though, and a relieved sigh left his lips at the type of knob.

He fished into his pocket and grabbed his wallet. He pulled out a penny, stuck it in the lock, and very slowly turned it. He heard a click and grinned.

He stuck his wallet back in his pocket and very slowly opened the door.

Todd’s snoring seemed to increase ten-fold. He winced and walked in, making sure to take soft and small steps. He turned on his phone and used the light from it to carefully move around the room, making sure not to shine it onto the two sleeping adults.

If Todd woke up…

He scanned the room carefully, checking shelves and on top of the dresser, but he couldn’t find what he needed. It wasn’t until he scanned the light onto the table beside the bed on the side Todd was sleeping that he spotted it.

Todd’s wallet.

Should he do this? If he did, he would be breaking the law. Todd could call the police on him, and he could be found before he got anywhere. He would end up back at this stupid apartment, with an enraged Todd and a mother who would go to her room instead of helping.

This could possibly be the worst decision that he had ever made.

But he had to do something.

Carefully making sure that Todd wasn’t awake, he picked up his wallet with shaking hands. He opened it up.

His mother hadn’t been exaggerating about how much money was there, which was good. He had been banking on it.

There were four one-hundred-dollar bills, along with five twenties, two fives, and about a dozen ones.

He wasn’t sure if professors made this much money or what, but he found that he didn’t really care at the moment. What matted was the money.

He pulled the cash out of the wallet and stuck it in his pocket, before pulling out the note that he had wrote and sticking it into the wallet in place of the money.

His heart pounded against his chest. He was surprised it didn’t wake them up.

Todd suddenly stopped snoring. Ricky froze, his hand stuck in mid-air as he went to set the wallet down. He withheld a whimper that threatened to leave his lips.

Nothing happened, and Todd went back to snoring.

He released the breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding and gently set the wallet down.

He tiptoed out of the room, careful not to make any noise. Once out, he gently shut the door, and a wide smile spread across his face.

There was no going back now. The money in his pocket felt heavy, but it also felt liberating.

He made his way across the living room and to the door, quickly opening it, stepping outside, and shutting it.

“What was that?” he heard Todd’s voice from inside the apartment.

His heart skipped a beat. He didn’t waste any time. He hobbled down the steps and took off at a steady run from the apartment, ignoring his ankle that protested loudly.

Step one was complete.

* * *

Once he was far enough away that he was sure that Todd wouldn’t come out and tackle him to the ground, he stopped to catch his breath. He stumbled onto a nearby bench, panting, and heaved his ankle across it. It throbbed. He could just imagine Carol’s face if she knew that he had been running on the sprain yet again.

He pulled off his phone and sent off a text to EJ letting him know what was going on before he quickly pulled up his maps and got his location.

Once he knew where he was, he pulled up the number to the cab company that he had found.

“Hey,” he answered once the lady on the other end finished her rambling introduction that he didn’t even pay attention to, “I need a cab to take me to the airport.”

“Sure thing. What’s your location?”

He rattled off the closest place to him and hung up, leaning back on the bench with a relieved smile painted along his face. The wind blew, and he shivered, but the cold couldn’t make the warm feeling leave his chest.

He was going home.

He itched to call Nini and tell her what he was doing but stopped himself just before he did. He would surprise her, and then he would apologize for lying, and they would spend the rest of Christmas break together.

His phone buzzed. He opened it quickly, expecting to see something from EJ, or even Nini.

_Big Red: dude look at this cat video._

He laughed and clicked on the video, feeling lighter than he had in a long time, because he was _out,_ and he was doing something to get away. He was taking back control, even if it ended badly.

It took about thirty minutes for the cab to show up, but he didn’t mind, even if it was still freezing outside. He was smiling when he climbed into the yellow car, not even caring when the driver sent him an odd look.

After all, a sixteen-year-old asking for a cab to the airport at eleven at night while visibly injured was definitely suspicious. The woman driving didn’t ask any questions, though. He wondered how often she saw stuff like this.

* * *

The next flight to Salt Lake City didn’t take off until the next morning, so Ricky sent off a text to EJ to let him know, put an alarm on his phone, settled uncomfortably in a chair, and took a nap.

He woke up to his alarm several hours later, jerking awake and suddenly unsure of where he was. When he came to his senses, he scurried into the bathroom, ignoring the odd look an elderly lady was giving him.

He freshened up in the bathroom and pulled out his phone, ignoring the dozens of text messages that his mother had sent him and instead focused on the text that EJ had sent.

_EJ: slight problem. Your dad is calling all the theatre kids to see if anyone has been in contact with you. said you’re missing._

_Ricky: Did you tell him!?_

_EJ: no, I didn’t and now I feel guilty. I’m going to have to confess this to my followers._

_Ricky: please don’t._

Dang it. He had hoped that his mom wouldn’t tell his dad so soon. He didn’t know what he would do if he got into Utah and his dad sent him right back to Chicago. That would be a certain death sentence.

His hands shook. He gripped the sink and looked into the mirror, staring at his bruised face.

What if his dad was at the airport when he got there? What if the police were? What if the police were at the airport right now? Could EJ get in trouble for helping him?

He shouldn’t have done this. He should have just dealt with Todd for another week.

His phone buzzed again.

_Mom: Todd got your note. He isn’t going to call the police, but I called your dad. We are both very disappointed in you._

He didn’t respond. Instead, he pulled up his mom’s contact information and blocked her.

No matter what happened now, he wasn’t going to turn back. He was going to go along with it.

* * *

His plane landed in Utah five hours later. He stepped into the airport on shaky legs, eyes flickering around frantically, terrified to see his dad waiting for him.

He just knew, he _knew_ , that his dad wouldn’t let him stay. His mother had proved that with her response to what was going on. He couldn’t rely on his parents. He had to get himself out of the situation.

“Ricky! Bowen, over here!”

His head snapped over to the voice, and a relieved smile broke out over his face.

Wow. He never thought he would be happy to see EJ. The Senior was dressed in a pair of joggers and a black t-shirt, obviously enjoying his break. He waved his hand above his head, but Ricky could easily see him in the crowd.

“Dude, you look awful,” EJ frowned as Ricky jogged over to him, trying to keep as much weight as possible off of his ankle while not bringing attention to it.

“Wow, thanks,” Ricky said sarcastically, “I was totally trying look like a model after spending the night in an airport.”

EJ rolled his eyes.

“That isn’t what I meant. Are you going to explain to me what happened, or should I just assume that you hit yourself in the face with a basketball?”

“Not now. Can we just go, before like, my dad shows up or something?” he asked, clutching his bag tightly across his shoulder.

“Fine, fine. But I expect an explanation in the car. You aren’t going to make me come to the airport so early on the break and lie to your dad and not tell me anything.”

His stomach twisted nervously, but he nodded. He knew that he had to give EJ at least a version of the events. He owed him that much.

They walked to the car silently, Ricky on edge. Every middle-aged white guy had his head turning in panic, but he never saw his dad.

He couldn’t tell if he was relieved or disappointed.

The moment Ricky slid into EJ’s passenger’s seat, he was being stared down by him.

“Okay spill. What’s going on? Does it have something to do with your face, because it looks like you lost a pretty nasty fight with Godzilla.”

He winced. Todd flashed through his mind, his furious face, the belt swinging through the air.

“My mom has got a new boyfriend,” he said, steeling his voice and willing it not to shake. He avoided looking EJ in his eyes, “He doesn’t like me very much.”

There was a split moment where EJ didn’t say anything, where Ricky was certain that the boy was going to taunt or laugh at him or tell him he was being overdramatic, but when he looked up, EJ wasn’t doing any of those things. Instead, he was frowning. He looked concerned. No, he looked angry.

“Your mom’s boyfriend did that to you?” he asked, gesturing to his face. The tone of his voice was familiar, and Ricky was suddenly brought back to when he had accidentally hit EJ in the face with the basketball.

Accidentally.

That had been Todd’s excuse at first.

He nodded hesitantly and pulled his bag up to his chest, hugging it. His back protested as he leaned against the seat, but he did not want to admit that he was more injured than EJ could see. It was bad enough that EJ was the only person, besides his mom, that knew what had been going on in Chicago.

“Did you tell your mom?”

He winced at that. His stomach twisted at the reminder, and he could just see his mom’s face in his mind as he told her what happened, before she dashed any hopes he had of her helping.

“Yeah,” he answered, a bit harshly. He looked down, “She just told me to stop antagonizing him. So, I left.”

“Your mom-“ EJ cut himself off and sighed, “Okay, I’ve never met your mom before but what the crap? That’s… _dude_ …”

“I stole about five hundred dollars from Todd’s wallet, got a cab to the airport, bought a ticket… and here I am,” Ricky continued as if EJ hadn’t said anything. He didn’t want to think about his mother. He felt sick whenever he did. He could see her walking into her room, leaving him to be beat. He wanted to forget about her, to pretend like the same woman who had sung him lullabies as a child hadn’t completely abandoned him.

EJ let out a low whistle. He cocked his head at him and was quiet for a moment. Ricky held his breath. This was it. EJ was going to kick him out of the car once he realized that he had stolen so much money. Then he was going to start talking to his phone about how he almost harbored a fugitive.

“Well,” EJ finally said, and for the first time since Ricky had known him, it seemed like he was choosing his words carefully, “As of lately, I am against stealing,” he paused briefly, “But it seems like this Todd guy deserved it, so good on you.”

He blinked in surprise, turning to look at him. He hadn’t expected that reaction. Actually, after his mother’s reaction, he hadn’t expected any kind of understanding at all from the boy. It was why he hadn’t told him. All he had said was that he needed a ride home from the airport.

He grinned shakily.

“I left him a note. Said that if he goes to the police, I’ll tell them what he did… so hopefully I won’t get into any trouble.”

EJ laughed, and the reaction was so… unexpected that it made him laugh as well.

“Theft and blackmail. Who knew you were Robin Hood?”

“I don’t think my situation is anywhere close to Robin Hood,” he answered, unable to keep the smile off of his face.

EJ shrugged. He put on his buckle and pulled his car out of the driveway, a smirk on his lips.

“Eh, close enough. Okay, one more question.”

“What is it?”

“Why me?”

Ricky was thrown off by the sudden change in tone in EJ’s question. EJ glanced at him briefly before turning his eyes back to the road. His eyebrows were furrowed though. Ricky knew why.

Sure, he and EJ were no longer rivals… but he wouldn’t exactly consider them friends.

“Well, you have a car.”

“So does Nini,” EJ pointed out, “And Kourtney… and your dad.”

Ricky winced. He nodded at EJ’s words and looked out the window.

“I can’t go back to Chicago, EJ. My mom… she just brushed it off. I can’t risk my dad doing the same thing and sending me back. And Nini… she would have to tell her moms if she was going to the airport and picking me up, and what if her moms told my dad? And Kourtney would tell Nini and I just… I knew that if you helped me, it had the least possibility of me going back to Chicago.”

EJ didn’t speak for a minute, and Ricky shifted uncomfortably in the seat. He stared out his window, watching as they drove away from the airport.

After a few moments, he looked back at EJ. He frowned as he saw that the boy was shaking his head in bemusement.

“What?”

“Ricky, I don’t know your dad, but I know Nini and I know her moms. They wouldn’t let you go back there if they knew that someone had hurt you. Seriously, Dana and Carol heard that my parents are out of town over the break and they’ve called me every single day since to make sure I was okay. I keep telling them that I’m almost eighteen and can stay home alone for a few days, but they’re protective, even though Nini and I aren’t even together anymore. It’s kind of annoying.”

Ricky smiled lightly at that, not doubting it for one minute, but his smile quickly fell.

“Yeah, but I thought I knew how my mom was going to react, as well.”

EJ shook his head and sighed. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel.

“You’re an idiot, Bowen,” he said, but there wasn’t any heat in it, “But okay. I get it. Don’t think this means that all I’m good for is a taxi service, though.”

Ricky rolled his eyes. He leaned against the car window, pressing his forehead to the cool glass, and smiled.

“’Course not,” he said, “Thank you.”

EJ was quiet for a moment, but then he spoke up.

“What are friends for?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are! Ricky is back in Utah and away from Todd and his mom. Things seem to be improving for our boy... but we still have a few chapters left! I'm not exactly sure how many just yet, but I'm guessing this story will have around 14 all in all. The next few chapters will focus on recovery, but don't get too comfortable. 
> 
> I love all of you guys so much. The response to this story has been absolutely incredible, and every single comment that I receive makes me cry tears of joy.
> 
> The next chapter will probably not come out until Sunday or Monday. I just found out that I have to go to a wedding tomorrow, so that will take up most of my day on Saturday. If it's not out on Monday, go scream at me on tumblr (rickyxbcwen).
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading and don't forget to comment!


	9. A Father's Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ricky is reunited with a few different people.

The ride to EJ’s house passed by mostly silently. Ricky turned off his phone when he started receiving dozens of text messages from everyone from his dad to Seb asking where he was. Even Miss Jenn had somehow managed to get his number.

He wanted to reply. He wanted to assure them all that he was okay. He hated that he was making them worry.

But it was all too much, and he had no idea what to say.

The only person who did not text him was Nini.

The reason why became quite clear when they pulled into EJ’s driveway, and Ricky saw Nini’s car, with her leaning against it with her arms crossed over her chest.

He sat up straight and gripped his bag, turning to EJ with alarm.

“Did you tell her!?”

“No, of course not!”

“Then what is she doing here?”

“I don’t know!”

Nini approached Ricky’s side of the car as EJ parked. The closer she got, the more Ricky realized that her eyes were red-rimmed. Her expression was angry, but as she got close enough to see his face through the window, it fell.

He stepped out of the car slowly.

“W-Nini?”

She threw her arms around him and would have knocked him off if the car wasn’t right behind him. The welts on his back stung as he pushed against the car.

“You scared me,” she mumbled into his chest, “Your dad called me. Said you’d run off again, but you took money this time. He thought you were with us, but we already came home.”

“H-how? How did you know?” he blinked, arms wrapped around her, eyebrows furrowed.

She pulled away and wiped at the tears that dripped down her cheeks.

“I figured if you took a lot of money, it would be to get a plane. You would need someone to pick you up from the airport. Kourtney and Big Red said they hadn’t heard from you… and EJ never answered my text, so I hoped for the best and came here.”

Ricky shot EJ a look, but the boy held up his hands in surrender.

“Sorry! I didn’t want to lie to her!”

Nini pointed her index finger into his chest. She opened her mouth to say something, but then something in her expression changed. Her eyes flicked down to his feet and then back up to his feet.

“Ricky!” she exclaimed, “You’re supposed to be staying off your ankle. EJ, help me get him inside.”

Oh right. Nini knew about his sprain.

“It’s okay. Really. I can barely feel it,” he said, wincing as Nini wrapped her arms around him on one side and gestured for EJ to do the same on the other, “I’m okay.”

“You hush or I’ll tell Mama C that you’ve been walking around on a sprained ankle.”

“In my defense,” EJ spoke up, “I knew nothing about a sprained ankle.”

Ricky scowled at him but had no other choice but to allow the two of them to help him into EJ’s living room, with furniture that looked way too nice to be comfortable.

“Nini. Really, I’m fine. I’ve been walking on it all day.”

“Yeah, and probably making it worse!” she snapped.

He flinched. He wasn’t sure why he flinched, and he mentally cursed himself for doing it. It was Nini. It wasn’t like Nini was going to hurt him. He _knew_ that. But suddenly, he was thrown back to that apartment, and Todd was screaming in his face, and-

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” she exclaimed, and there were tears in her eyes that did not fall, “I didn’t- I just-“

“I lied to you,” Ricky said suddenly. He sucked in a breath, “I-I lied. I’m sorry. I just… I had to get away, and I was scared.”

“He hurt you, didn’t he? Todd?” she said, gesturing to the large bruise on his face. She clenched her chin and blinked away the tears, “It’s why you left.”

His throat closed up. He nodded, unable to look at her. It was one thing to admit it to EJ. It was another to admit it to Nini after he had lied to her all week.

“I should have been able to handle it. It was only two weeks. I should have-I could have handled it. I just...” he cut himself off and closed his eyes, “He was getting worse, and I don’t know how far he would have gone.”

He didn’t want to tell her any details. He didn’t want her to know the things Todd had said and done, but he also didn’t want to lie to her anymore.

Nini was quiet for a moment. Her hand slid out, gently cupping his cheek, careful around the bruise. He looked at her, and she gave him the smallest of smiles.

“It’s okay, Ricky,” she said softly, “I’m just… I’m just glad you’re out of there, and now you’re safe.”

He smiled shakily, relief flooding through his body. There had been a part of him that had been terrified that she would react like his mom, that she would have said to just deal with it.

Nini leaned forward, and he met her in the middle, kissing her.

EJ coughed.

“There are plenty of rooms upstairs,” he said, before his face twisted, “Wait, no, this is my house. Please, let’s keep things PG.”

“It was just a kiss, EJ,” Nini exclaimed. She grinned, though, and Ricky returned it, and then the three of them were suddenly laughing, light and long, and he felt all of the tension in his shoulders slowly slip away.

“I love you,” he said.

Nini smiled and kissed him again.

“I love you, too.”

* * *

It wasn’t even fifteen minutes later when the sound of a car parking in the driveway had all three of them stiffening.

“What was that?” Ricky whispered.

“I thought you said your parents were out of town, EJ!” Nini exclaimed.

“They are! I don’t know who it is!”

EJ scurried over to the window and peeked out. He frowned, but he visibly relaxed.

“It’s Ashlyn,” he said. He paused, “And Kourtney. Oh, and Big Red.”

“What?” Nini jumped from her spot beside Ricky and rushed to the window, “What are they doing here?”

“I don’t know,” EJ hissed back, “Just-hold on.”

Ricky watched as EJ slipped out of the door. He glanced at Nini with wide eyes. He was not expecting on seeing anyone else so soon, especially not when his entire face was basically a bruise.

He could hear them outside, though. He strained his ears to hear what they were saying.

“EJ, why aren’t you answering your texts?” that was undeniably Ashlyn.

“Uh, I just haven’t been checking my phone…”

“Well, did you hear about Ricky?” Kourtney asked.

Ricky almost choked. He glanced at Nini, but she had her ear pressed against the door, listening closely.

“His dad called.”

“He said he thinks that Ricky got a flight back to Utah, so we’re going to look for him,” Big Red said.   
“He didn’t call me, Nini, or Kourtney, which means that the only logical explanation is that he got a sketchy Uber and is currently being held hostage and we have to save him.”

“Ooor,” Ashlyn cut in, “He got a ride from someone else.”

“What? Ash, don’t be ridiculous,” Big Red said.

He couldn’t help himself, and the moment those words came out of Big Red’s mouth, he barked out a laugh. He hadn’t realized how much he had missed his friend until now.

He slapped a hand over his mouth and looked at Nini with wide eyes.

“What was that?” he heard Kourtney asked.

“Uh, um, my brother,” EJ answered.

Nini slapped her hand against her forehead.

“EJ, I’m your cousin. You don’t have a brother,” Ashlyn said, “Now, move.”

Ricky knew that there wasn’t anyway he was going to avoid it. They were going to find out sooner than later, anyway. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to face an additional three people at the moment, but it looked like he was going to have to be.

Nini jumped back from the door as it swung open.

“Nini?” Kourtney asked in confusion as she stepped in, “What are you doing- Ricky!?”

“What is Ricky doing in your house, EJ?” Ashlyn demanded, pointing at Ricky as if he was stolen goods.

Big Red was staring at him. There was an expression on his face that Ricky wasn’t sure he had ever seen before. Confusion, mixed with sorrow, hurt, and anger. He didn’t speak as he walked in and plopped down right beside Ricky.

“Hey,” Ricky said.

“Hey,” Big Red responded. He paused and tilted his head at him, “I didn’t know that EJ was an Uber driver.”

Ricky snorted, and Big Red grinned.

“I’m going to order pizza,” Kourtney said.

No one questioned Ricky. No one asked him about the bruise on his face or why had had run away. Instead, they all sat down in EJ’s living room. Someone suggested watching Netflix.

And just like that, it came flooding over Ricky.

He wasn’t alone.

* * *

It was two hours later, after they finished watching Klaus, that Nini mentioned it.

“You need to call your dad.”

He stiffened in his spot on the couch, eyes flickering over to her. She was laying across the couch, her head in his lap ass she played with the strings on his jacket.

He shook his head.

“I can’t.”

“He’s really worried about you,” Kourtney said, looking at him from her spot on the floor. She frowned, “He has no way of knowing if you even made it to Utah.”

Ricky chewed on his bottom lip. Worrying his dad had never been his intention. Actually, he had hoped that his mother wouldn’t even call his dad, but he guessed that had been wishful thinking.

“He’ll send me back,” he said, voice soft. He stared down at Nini’s hair, playing with it.

“No, he won’t,” Ashlyn said. He glanced up at her, watching as her eyes flicked across the bruise on his face. He hadn’t told her what had happened, but he knew that she could tell that he had been hurt, “He just needs to know you’re safe.”

“Besides, we won’t let him,” EJ pointed out with a shrug.

Ashlyn smirked at him, but Ricky still bit his lip. The idea made his insides squirm.

A week ago, this would have been a no-brainer. He trusted his father. His dad had never given him any reason not to. He had always been able to go to him with his problems.

But after his mother’s reaction, he wasn’t so sure.

Still, they were right. He couldn’t just hide out at EJ’s forever, and the longer he was there, the more worrying he was putting his dad through.

He took a deep breath in and closed his eyes.

“Okay,” he said slowly. He opened his eyes and looked down at Nini, “Can you drive me home?”

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Nini’s car pulled up in his driveway. He focused on keeping his breathing calm as he stared up at the house. It looked daunting, not at all the home that he used to view it as.

He supposed that he had no reason to think that. His father hadn’t done anything.

But… what if…

“I don’t know about this, Nini,” he said, his voice shaking ever so slightly, “Maybe we should just go back.”

“Ricky, you can’t hide forever,” she said, eyes soft.

Before he could say anything else, though, the door to his house swung open. His dad must have heard a car coming up the driveway, because he peeked out, and Ricky was thrown by his red-rimmed eyes and hair sticking up everywhere.

He saw Ricky in the car. For a moment, they stared at each other.

Nini slid out of the driver’s seat and quickly made her way over to the passenger’s side. She opened the door and helped him out, careful to avoid him putting weight on his sprained ankle.

His dad suddenly ran forward, and before he knew it, he was engulfed in a hug.

“Oh, Ricky,” his dad said, and Ricky had to turn his face to avoid his nose being smooshed into his dad’s shoulder, “Ricky, I’m so sorry.”

He sucked in a breath and felt tears prick at his eyes. His arms wrapped around his dad’s torso, clenching the fabric of his shirt, and he leaned into the hug. His shoulders trembled.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled into the hug, “I should have called you.”

His father pulled away suddenly, hands on his shoulders. His eyes scanned over Ricky’s face, taking in every inch of it, and he pursed his lips.

“What happened?”

His throat felt like it closed up. He blinked, and a few tears trickled down his cheek. He opened his mouth to say it, but nothing came out except for a harsh sob.

He couldn’t say it. Not again. He couldn’t handle the rejection. His mind kept replaying his mother’s response.

_“What did you do?”_

_“You can’t be making him mad like that, honey.”_

_“You’re almost an adult. You don’t need me protecting you all of the time anymore.”_

He knew, he just _knew_ , that his father would say the same thing.

“I’m sorry,” he choked out instead, and a rollercoaster of sobs began to slide out of his mouth, “Please don’t send me back.”

He was pulled back into a hug. His entire body shook as he held onto his dad and cried into his shoulder.

* * *

He wasn’t sure when Nini left, but at some point, she did, because when his father guided him into the house, she was already gone.

His sobs had settled down, leaving him with a headache and a numb feeling spreading across his body.

His dad helped him to the couch, and he sat down, pulled the couch pillow to his chest, and stared at the wall. His father disappeared for a moment and came back with a hot cup of cocoa, gently sliding it into his hands and sitting down beside him.

“Ricky,” his father’s voice was quiet, but it shook lightly. Ricky looked up at his dad, and the man gently brushed his thumb over the bruise across his face, “Who did this?”

He closed his eyes. Todd’s fist flashed through his mind, and he could almost see it sailing through the air and towards his face.

He didn’t respond. He took in a deep breath and swallowed some hot chocolate. A warm feeling spread across his chest.

“Ricky, please. I need to know so I can do something about it,” his father pleaded, “I know you, son. You wouldn’t steal over 500 dollars and jump on a plane across the country unless it was important. And I’m willing to bet it has something to do with this bruise. So, please, tell me. Who hurt you?”

He bit his lip, took in a deep breath, and forced himself to speak.

“Todd.”

“Todd,” his father repeated. He took in a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Todd… your mom’s boyfriend.”

He nodded.

“Did he… did he do anything else?”

An image of the belt soaring through the air flashed across his mind.

He nodded again.

“He doesn’t like me,” he whispered. He bit his lip and sat the mug down on the coffee table before pulling his sleeve up.

The bruise on his wrist was healing. It was a yellowish-green color now, and he was pretty sure it would be gone soon, but it was still visible.

“He grabbed my arm the first day. Mom didn’t see,” his voice sounded robotic. He pointed to the bruise on the side of his face, “he slapped me the next day. And… and he also pulled my hair on Christmas because I didn’t get mom a present and I kicked him, and he was shouting that he would kill me, so I jumped out the window and sprained my ankle, and-and Nini found me, but when I get back, he punched me and he-“

He cut himself off. He hadn’t meant to ramble on about what had happened. He hadn’t told anyone everything yet. All Nini and EJ knew about was what the could see, and Kourtney, Ashlyn, and Big Red only knew what they could assume.

His dad didn’t say anything, and after a moment, he risked a glance up at him.

The man had his eyes closed. His jaw was clenched, and his fists were tight at his sides, and, for a moment, Ricky thought that he had made his dad mad like he had made Todd mad so many times.

But then his dad opened his eyes, and a tear slipped out.

“You aren’t going back there, Ricky,” he said. His voice cracked in the middle of it, “I never should have sent you over. I-I’m sorry, son.”

Something inside of him broke at that, at his father’s apology, at the man’s promise that he wouldn’t go back. A tear slipped down his cheek, and the words began to spill out of his mouth.

“I told mom. I told her that he hurt me, and she just told me to stop making him mad, and then later he hurt me in front of her, and she just went into her room. She didn’t care. She didn’t care. She-“

A choked noise left his father’s lips. The man leaned forward and pulled him back into a hug. He held onto his father like his life depended on it. His dad, who wasn’t abandoning him, who wasn’t going to send him back and tell him to deal with it.

“I care,” he whispered into Ricky’s ears, “That was wrong of your mother. So wrong. And I’m so proud of you for telling someone, even if they didn’t help you. That’s on her. It’s her job to help.”

He sniffed and leaned into his dad. He felt tired suddenly. Exhausted.

“I love you, son,” his dad whispered, “No one is going to hurt you anymore.”

Ricky believed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not the end! It kind of feels like it, but it isn't. In fact, the ending is going to be going on after they're back in school, so don't worry. We still have a few chapters to go.
> 
> Thank you all so much for your response. We hit 100 comments! 100! I think that's the most comments I have ever received on a story, so thank you all who have commented so much. I love reading and responding to each one that I receive. Don't forget to let me know what you think about this one! We're finally moving out of the hurt and into the comfort (although, I can't promise that we're going to stay in the comfort for too long).


	10. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ricky is home, but that doesn't mean that his mom and Todd are going to stop trying to interfere.

He would never admit it, but the moment that Mike got the news from Lynne that his son was missing, that he had stolen five hundred dollars from her boyfriend and was probably trying to run back to Utah, he had been in full panic mode.

Well, scratch that. He had been in full panic mode ever since Ricky had gotten on that plane the first time to head to Chicago. The idea of sending his son across the country all by himself was terrifying, though he did his best not to show his fear in front of Ricky.

And then Ricky was over there, and he wasn’t calling him and telling him that everything was fine, and there was a pit in his stomach that just wouldn’t go away. Then Lynne had called and said he had run away but he was back and grounded, and he had known that something was wrong, because Ricky wouldn’t just _run away_ , but he wasn’t sure exactly what to do.

Then Ricky ran away again, this time stealing money, and he had called every single person that he could think of asking if they had heard from him, only to receive a resounding no from each.

He’d been minutes from calling the police, because what if Ricky was hurt or got lost or someone had kidnapped him, when he heard Nini’s car in the driveway.

Ricky was home, but he was hurt. A stranger had hurt him. A stranger that his ex-wife had let in her house had hurt his son. She had known, and she had done nothing about it.

As he sat on the couch, his son in his arms, panic was no longer the emotion that he felt.

It didn’t take long for Ricky to fall asleep against him. It was only three in the afternoon, but it wouldn’t surprise him if the boy hadn’t gotten much sleep. He carefully maneuvered himself out of Ricky’s arms and laid the boy on the couch. A quick trip to Ricky’s bedroom had him placing a pillow under the boy’s head and draping a blanket over him.

He looked peaceful like this, not at all like the sobbing teenager that he had held in his arms. If not for the angry bruise across his face and slightly-swelled nose, it could have been easy to think that everything was fine.

He didn’t want to take his gaze away from his son, but he had some phone calls to make.

Slipping into his bedroom, he pulled out his phone.

“Mike? Did you find him? Please tell me you found him.”

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to squash down the fury that rose at the sound of his ex-wife’s voice.

“Yes, yes. He’s home,” he answered hastily, “And he isn’t going to be returning to you.”

There was a moment where Lynne didn’t say anything, but then she spoke up.

“Mike, I don’t know what he told you-“

“He doesn’t have to say anything. The massive bruise on his face speaks for himself,” he responded, “He will be staying here where no one will hurt him.”

“Mike-“

“How could you, Lynne,” he interrupted, “He went to you for help and you betrayed his trust. You allowed a man to continuing hurting your own son, your own flesh and blood.”

“Look. Yes, Todd has some anger problems, but no one is perfect, and-“

“You don’t have to be perfect to not abuse a kid.”

“Ricky is almost an adult. It wasn’t _abuse_ , Mike.”

“I don’t care if he was forty-three. There was someone in the house actively hurting him. It’s abuse, and you let it happen.”

“Well, what did you expect me to do, Mike?”

“Leave him,” he hissed, “Send him out of your house. Don’t let him around your son.”

It was quiet on the other end. He stared at the wall, his phone clenched in his hand as he held it up to his ear.

“I couldn’t do that, Mike. I love him.”

He scoffed. There were times when he really didn’t understand his ex-wife. Perhaps that was why they had broken up. Or perhaps it was because he had called her one day and another man had answered the phone.

“More than your son?”

She didn’t answer, and that was answer enough.

Someone knocked at the front door. He didn’t even say goodbye, just hung up on Lynne.

He quickly walked to the door, eyes flickering over to make sure that Ricky was still asleep, before swinging the door open.

“Jenn?” he said, surprised.

The woman smiled at him from the other side of the door. She held a pot in her hands, and she looked as tired as he felt. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, and she was dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt, far cry from what he was used to seeing her in.

“Hey,” she said, offering him a smile as she held the pot out towards him, “I made you some homemade spaghetti.”

He blinked in surprise as he took the pot from her.

“Have you heard anything about Ricky?” 

Right. He forgot that he had called her last night, right after being told that Ricky was missing. He had called everyone that knew Ricky, trying to see if his son had contacted anyone about his plans. He had hoped that with how involved Ricky had gotten in the theatre department, he may have gone to his teacher, but that had proven to be wrong.

“Oh, yes. Yes, he’s home. He’s sleeping, right now,” he answered. He moved out of the way just enough so that she could see the top of his head on the couch, “Nini brought him home.”

She visibly sighed in relief at the sight of him, and Mike was hit with just how much Miss Jenn cared about these kids.

“Thank goodness. I was so worried,” she said.

He nodded, and a small part of his mind wondered how much better it would be for Ricky if he had a mom like Jenn, who cared.

He pushed that thought away.

“Thank you. For the spaghetti,” he said with a smile, “I’m sure Ricky will enjoy some food when he wakes up.”

* * *

Ricky was sore when he woke up. He winced when he pushed himself into a sitting position and glanced around the living room. He wasn’t sure what time it was. He hadn’t even realized that he had fallen asleep, and his dad must have laid him on his back, which left his back irritated and sore. He had been able to avoid sleeping on his back so far, as the welts from Todd’s belts were still present.

The smell of spaghetti filled his nose, enticing him off the couch.

He pushed himself onto his feet and limped his way into the kitchen, ignoring his sore back. His stomach rumbled.

His dad was in the kitchen, standing in front of the microwave and staring at it intently.

“Do I smell spaghetti?”

His dad jumped and spun around, eyes wide. He relaxed when he saw him, though, and smiled.

“Yeah, I made it myself. Just… heating it up…”

“ _You_ made spaghetti?”

His dad scoffed.

“I’m wounded, Ricky… but you are correct. Jenn sent it over.”

Ricky blinked at that, tilting his head at his dad.

“Miss Jenn?”

“Yeah, someone must have told her of my skills in the kitchen.”

Ricky laughed. He hopped over to the table and leaned back on the chair. His dad turned and frowned. He walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed an ice pack, tossing it over to him.

“Put this on your ankle.”

He sighed but caught the ice pack. He propped his leg up on the other chair and iced it.

His father pulled the spaghetti out of the microwave, scooped some out into a bowl, and placed it in front of him.

“Eat up,” his dad said, making himself a bowl and sitting down across from him, “You’ve been asleep for a few hours. You’re probably hungry.”

He nodded and grabbed his fork, digging into the spaghetti with fervor.

“Try and stay off your ankle for a few days,” his dad said, “You’ve been running around on it for a while. If you want it to heal, you need to let it rest. You can invite Nini or Big Red over, but I hereby declare you on bed rest.”

“Bed rest?”

“Well, maybe not bed rest, but at least rest.”

He snickered but, if Ricky was being totally honest with himself, rest sounded perfect. His entire body was sore, and he really didn’t feel like doing anything crazy. He just wanted to lie around and watch movies, preferably with Nini.

“And-Ricky?”

“Yeah?”

“If anyone ever hurts you, you can always tell me. Okay? I will always help you.”

Ricky blinked. He looked up at his dad and gave him a slight smile, but his stomach twisted at the words not spoken.

_‘Your mother won’t.’_

He swallowed and tried not to think about his mom, because while Todd had hurt him physically, Ricky couldn’t help but be more hurt by his mother’s actions.

“Thank you, dad,” he said softly, looking down at his spaghetti.

“You’re welcome. Now, what do you say about a movie after dinner?”

* * *

Several hours later, after watching High School Musical 2 with his dad, Ricky headed up to his room to go to sleep. He shot off a text to Nini asking if she could hang out the next day before eyeing the shower warily.

His back still hurt from the beating that he had taken with Todd’s belt, and he really didn’t want to have the water pelting the bruises and welts, but he needed a shower. He hadn’t taken one in a few days and was starting to feel pretty grimy.

He sucked in a breath and slid his shirt off, letting it fall to the floor. He twisted his back to see it in the mirror.

The welts that Todd had left turned into bruises which littered the skin on his back, and they were an angry purple color. The few places were the skin had broken scabbed over, and he really hoped that they didn’t scar.

It wasn’t pretty, and a shower was not going to be pleasant, but he needed one.

“Okay,” he said to himself, “Just a quick one. Get in, get cleaned, and get out.”

Easier said than done.

* * *

The shower wasn’t as bad as he was making it out to be in his mind. It did leave his back a bit sorer than beforehand, but he also felt clean and refreshed.

That was why he didn’t even think about it when he tugged on some sweat pants and stepped out of the bathroom, shirtless with wet hair. He had eyes on his bedroom, ready to go to bed, and thus didn’t realize that his dad was walking down the hall at the same time.

“Oh, Ricky.”

He turned around quickly and paused at the sight of his father. The man was holding a basket of laundry, and he had a crushed look on his face. His eyes were lingering along Ricky’s torso.

Right. He hadn’t told him about the belt.

“Hey, dad,” he said awkwardly. He leaned against the wall, taking the weight off of his ankle, “I was just heading to bed.”

His father coughed and shook his head.

“Right, right. Get some sleep. I’ve got to work tomorrow, so ask one of your friends or Nini to come over,” he said, mustering up a smile that Ricky knew was fake.

Ricky nodded.

“Good night,” he said, before darting into his bedroom.

“Good night,” his dad called out just before Ricky shut the door.

* * *

Try as he might, he just couldn’t get to sleep.

He tossed and turned for what felt like hours, turning from his left side, to his right, to his stomach, and unable to find a comfortable position. As tired as he had been, it was like the moment his head hit the pillow, he was wide awake. He sighed out loud and stared at his door, frowning.

Dimly, he could hear a voice in the other room.

He frowned, curious. As far as he knew, only his dad was home, so who was he talking to?

Carefully, he pushed himself onto his feet and limped to his door. He slipped out of his room and, one hand against the wall to keep his balance, he limped down the hall. He stopped just out of his dad’s eyesight, peaking around a banister to see what he was doing.

He was on the phone and his voice was just barely restrained. His free hand was clenched at his side, and he stood stiffly.

“No, I don’t want him seeing you ever again… I don’t care, Lynne. I will fight for full custody… I’m pretty sure any judge would give it to me if they know what you did… Okay, what you didn’t do!”

Ricky felt cold. He bit his lip as he listened. His mom was on the other end, and he winced as he realized that this fight was definitely about him.

“No, Lynne. Leave him alone. You’ve hurt him enough. Stay away.”

“Don’t call him. Don’t text him. Okay? Not now.”

“I don’t care what you have to say to him, Lynne. He needs to recover.”

“I don’t want to have to file a restraining order, but I will to protect Ricky.”

He felt his heartbeat pick up, mind racing with ideas of what they could be talking about. He both wanted to know and didn’t, because the idea of talking to his mom again, even a few words, was daunting to say the least. He was out of there, and he wanted to just forget that Christmas week had even happened.

“Look, I’ll tell him you said Happy Birthday on his birthday. Just leave him alone.”

He peaked out from around the banister just in time to see his dad hang up suddenly. He tossed his phone onto the couch and sat on the chair, putting his head in his hands.

Not wanting to be seen, Ricky swallowed thickly and quickly rushed off back to his bedroom.

What did his mom want? The curiosity was overwhelming, but his lack of desire to speak to the woman was even stronger.

He didn’t get any sleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for everyone's response! The climax of the story is starting to get here. Next chapter will be a bit of a timeskip, and the chapter after that will be the climax of the story. We're coming to a close!  
> Let me know what you guys think and follow me on tumblr at Rickyxbcwen.


	11. Back to School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ricky heads back to school without Nini, and the theatre department is running full speed ahead with the new show.

“Why can’t the break be longer?”

Ricky was sprawled out on Nini’s bed, his head in her lap as he tossed one of her stress balls in the air. She was sitting up and leaning against her headboard. One hand was carding through his curls, while the other held onto her phone as she texted Kourtney.

A week had passed since Ricky had flown back to Ohio. He had spent every day with Nini, including a day where they had met up with practically all of the theatre kids at the park, but the week had gone by so quickly.

Nini would be leaving for Denver in the morning.

“I know, but I’m coming back down in three weeks for your birthday,” Nini said with a grin. She bent down and kissed him briefly.

He caught the ball in his hand and rolled over onto his stomach.

“Is it really three weeks away?”

“Yep,” Nini said with a grin, “You’re about to be seventeen years old, Mr. Adult.”

Ricky rolled his eyes.

“Hey, I’ve still got another year before adulthood. Don’t age me up too fast,” he said.

“I’m sorry. You’re ancient.”

“You’re only four months younger than me!”

Nini let out a laugh. It was light and musical, and he couldn’t help but grin. It was a sound that he was going to miss over the next few weeks.

Her hand slid down, and her thumb gently slide over his cheek.

“It’s looking better,” she said softly.

His grin slipped, and he sighed. He had hoped that his bruise would be gone by the time school started back. He didn’t want to have to go around school and have people asking him questions. Of course, luck was never on Ricky Bowen’s side, and the bruise was still a greenish-yellow color. It was better than the ugly blue and purple that it had been, but it was still more noticeable than he wished it was.

“I’m going to have so many people staring at me,” he whined.

“It’s not that bad,” she responded, “It’ll be gone before you know it.”

“Not soon enough,” he sighed. He paused and looked up at Nini with wide eyes, “Do you think I could use makeup to cover it up?”

Nini arched an eyebrow down at him.

“Would you, Ricky Bowen, have enough patience to cover it up with makeup?” she asked, already knowing the patience, “You will purposefully avoid microwaveable food that takes longer than three minutes, because you don’t want to wait so long.”

He scowled lightly, though he knew she was right. He hadn’t even worn makeup before, and neither had his dad. Nini wouldn’t be here, so he would have to figure it out himself, and he did not have the patience for such a thing.

“Don’t worry about it, Ricky. No one is going to care. Now, do you want to rewatch Brooklyn 99 or Stranger Things?”

* * *

It was weird to walk into the school, knowing that Nini was not even in the same state. Even when they hadn’t been together, hadn’t been talking, Ricky would pass by her locker or see her in the lunchroom. She was such a common sight that he felt the absence drastically the moment he walked in through the doors.

The moment he and Big Red walked through the doors of East High first thing in the morning, though, they were approached by Carlos jogging over to them. He was grinning from ear to ear, and he held a dozen flyers in his hands.

“First day back, and Miss Jenn already has flyers up for the next show!” Carlos exclaimed cheerfully. He shoved a flyer into both Ricky’s and Big Red’s hands, “We’re putting on Beauty and the Beast! Auditions are Friday.”

Ricky arched an eyebrow as he took the flyer, eyes flickering over it.

“Beauty and the Beast? Didn’t the theatre department do this freshman year?”

“Well, yes,” Carlos answered, “That was the year before I came, but I did come and see the show. It was… rough, to say the least. The school cut our funding, so we don’t have enough to buy enough material to put on a new show, so we have to use recycled props and costumes from a previous one.”

“They cut our funding?” Big Red asked.

“They’re blaming the fire on Miss Jenn. They aren’t too happy with her.”

Ricky didn’t know what had happened that caused the fire. He was pretty sure no one really knew. Still, he found that incredibly unfair.

“Are you going to stay in the tech department,” Carlos asked Big Red suddenly.

“Yeah. Once I figured out what I was doing, I had a lot of fun,” Big Red answered, grinning.

Carlos smiled at that. His attention shifted to Ricky, and he pointed at the flyer.

“Are you auditioning?”

Ricky blinked, eyes flicking back down to the flyer.

He had joined the play last semester because of Nini, but she wasn’t here anymore. He had nearly messed up the whole show on opening night, too. Truth be told, with everything that had gone on over the break, the next show had been the last thing on his mind.

“I don’t know,” he answered, trailing off.

But he had enjoyed himself. He had fun, and fell in love with it, especially his costars and the crew. He had found a family that he hadn’t had beforehand. His little group of friends that mainly consisted of just Nini and Big Red had grown exponentially. It was somewhere that he could belong.

Nini wasn’t going to be there, but that didn’t mean Ricky couldn’t.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll audition.”

“Perfect,” Carlos said with a quick nod, “Remember, auditions this Friday. You can stop Miss Jenn’s office for the script anytime before then, although I’d recommend today or tomorrow so you have time to practice, and-“

“Carlos!”

If Ricky had thought that Carlos had looked excited before about announcing the new show, then Carlos looked positively ecstatic to hear his name being called. The sophomore spun around towards the sound of the voice, and his face lit up.

Seb was walking over to them, waving his arms over the crowd of students. He was dressed in a red t-shirt with a yellow collar and a belt that wrapped around his waist. He wore black pants and oversized brown boots, and even had on yellow gloves.

“How do I look?” he asked as he approached. He did a little spin, showing off his outfit.

“You do know that auditions aren’t until Friday, right?” Big Red asked.

Seb laughed. He slid the gloves off and tucked them into his bookbag, before pulling out a stack of flyers as well.

“I know. I’m helping Carlos, and I decided to do some advertising for it,” he responded, “Besides, I’m trying to get in character before the auditions. Before I auditioned for Sharpay, I wore a wig for a week straight every waking hour I was at home. Well, until one of my cows ate it.”

Ricky found himself grinning.

“Sharpay and Gaston are two very different characters,” he pointed out with a small laugh.

“Are they really, though?” Seb asked, “Besides, I’m a well-rounded actor.”

Ricky didn’t doubt that one bit.

“Carlos,” Seb turned his attention, “You’ve got to show me your new car now.”

“You got a new car?” Big Red asked, “And you didn’t tell us?”

Carlos blushed and shook his head quickly.

“It’s not a new car, really. My uncle is the one who got a new car, so he gave me his old one. It’s… not in the best shape. You wouldn’t want to see it.”

“It’s new to you,” Seb pointed out. He tugged on Carlos’ sleeve, “Come on! Go show me!”

“Okay. Okay.”

The two quickly began to walk away without another word to them. Ricky watched as they latched hands, rushing off into the parking lot.

“I want a car,” Big Red said suddenly as the two turned to start walking to their lockers, “You think my mom will buy me a car?”

“Cars aren’t cheap,” Ricky pointed out.

Big Red sighed dramatically.

“Well, no, but you have a car!”

“That I share with my dad. Besides, if you get a car, who will skate with me to school?”

“I feel like Gina might.”

Ricky arched an eyebrow at Big Red and shook his head.

“She’s living with Ashlyn, now, and I think the Caswell’s have a private limo. No way she would skate with me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Big Red responded, “They don’t have a _limo_. Probably a Porsche, though.”

* * *

It took Ricky until Wednesday to officially decide that he did not want to even audition as the lead. He had auditioned as Troy simply because it was the first character that he saw when he started watching the movie, and he just needed a character to audition under so he could sing Nini that song. He hadn’t even really auditioned for Troy, either. It just… ended up that he was playing the main.

Nini wasn’t here this time, though, and Ricky wasn’t sure if he wanted to have anyone else as a love interest.

He knew it was dumb, that it was acting and not real, but he couldn’t help it.

By the time auditions rolled around, Ricky had decided, after a long discussion with Nini over FaceTime, on the character to audition for.

_“Oh my goodness, Ricky! You have to play Chip!”_

He arrived on time, tried not to think about Nini’s absence, and performed as best as he could when he was actually trying to get the part and not get the girl. There were only a few other people auditioning, but even then, Ricky couldn’t help but be incredibly nervous.

He had been nervous the last time, too, but for a whole different reason.

And then it was over, and Carlos was running out into the hall with the cast list, and Ricky fell into step near EJ and Gina.

“Chip? Really, Ricky?” Gina cocked an eyebrow at him, a smirk on her face.

Ricky shrugged and grinned.

“Chip’s cool!”

“Whatever you say.”

He stayed near the back of the crowd as students pushed to see if they got the part. There was a mingling of disappointed sighs and joyful cheers.

“EJ got Beast!”

“Seb is Gaston?”

“Ashlyn, you’re Mrs. Potts!”

Ricky finally managed to spot the list, and he briefly sees Gina’s name under Belle, before his eyes flick down to Chip.

He grinned at his name printed beside it.

“Alright, cinnamon bun,” Kourtney said as she clapped a hand on his shoulder, “Nini is going to have to see the show, now.”

* * *

During the day, it was quite easy to forget about what had happened over the break. He rushed from class to class, then spent his afternoons at rehearsal or doing his homework, and any precious free time he found was usually spent texting or face-timing Nini. If anyone asked what he did over the break, he always said that he spent it with Nini, and those who knew that he had gone to Chicago seemed to understand not to bring it up, even if they didn’t really know what had happened.

Night, however… night was another thing.

There were no distractions at night. All he had was his own mind and his own memories. As he slept, those memories tended to morph into his dreams.

So, that night when he woke up with a gasp, arms flying in front of his face to protect himself from the non-existent fist that had been flying his way, he decided that he wasn’t going to go back to bed, even if it was only three in the morning.

_“Stop wallowing in your own self-pity and behave before you make things worse than you have already.”_

He sucked in a shaky breath and pushed himself to his feet.

“Lynne!” he heard his father speaking loudly from the kitchen, “I’m not going to say it again. Don’t come!”

He frowned and glanced at the clock, sure that he must have read it wrong before if his dad was on the phone (not just with anyone, but with his mother), but no, it was three in the morning.

He slowly made his way out of his room and walked down the hall, curious and a bit apprehensive about what he was hearing.

“I don’t care, Lynne. Ricky doesn’t want to see you… I know you’re his mother, but you didn’t act like it… I don’t trust you around him, Lynne! Let him have a good birthday!

Ricky winced. He bit his lip and peaked around the corner, stomach twisting. His birthday wasn’t for another two weeks, and it wasn’t hard to deduce what his parents were arguing out.

His mom wanted to come down for his birthday.

The thought of seeing his mom again left a sour taste in his mouth, and he was glad that his dad was telling her not to.

Last year, Ricky had begged his mom to come home for his birthday, but she had said that she couldn’t get off work. Now, when he doesn’t want to see her, probably never again, she wants to come down? After everything that happened?

“Lynne, don’t-“ his father cut himself off, and Ricky winced as his dad looked straight at him, “I got to go.”

Well, there went Ricky’s plan to go back to his room and pretend like he hadn’t heard anything.

His dad hung up his phone and stuffed it in his pocket. He shifted awkwardly on his feet.

“How much did you hear?” he asked.

“Enough to know that mom wants to come down for my birthday.”

Ricky shuffled into the room and sat down on the couch, looking at his hands and frowning.

“I should have told you,” his dad said, “but I didn’t want to bring it up. If you don’t want to see her, you don’t have to, okay? I’m not going to let her come see you… unless you want her to.”

He probably should want to see his mom, right? After all, she was his mother, and for most of his life, he had been a mama’s boy, always wanting to be with her. He had missed her so much when she had gone to Chicago, had wanted her home so badly…

But then she had allowed for Todd to hurt him. He couldn’t get over that.

_“Ungrateful little brat!”_

“I don’t want to see her,” he responded, voice barely above a whisper. His hands shook and he gripped his shirt to keep them still, “I-I don’t… I don’t want…”

His father placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it, taking a seat next to him on the couch.

“Okay,” he said softly, “you don’t have to. I’m going to keep telling her not to come, and if she doesn’t listen… well, there’s always a restraining order.”

Ricky winced at that. He blinked blearily and could practically hear Todd’s voice shouting in his ear.

His voice trembled as he spoke.

“Does that make me a bad son?”

“No,” his dad said firmly, “No, it doesn’t. It’s perfectly reasonable. Your mom… she hurt you, Ricky. Maybe not physically, but emotionally. She doesn’t get to force you to see her again unless you’re ready.”

Ricky nodded. He tried to push away the wary feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.

It didn’t work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry that this took so long to get out (well, only five days, but long for me). A storm came by and caused some damage to our house, so I've been a bit preoccupied and unable to find the inspiration to get this chapter out. It was a hard one, because it's setting up for next chapter (which is the climax of the story) but it felt like a filler more than anything... just a very important filler with information necessary for next chapter.
> 
> Regardless, it's up now, and next chapter should be up faster! I'm super excited about it, because this is the part of the story that I've had planned ever since I decided I wanted to write this story. It's probably the first scene that I imagined. 
> 
> Leave a comment, and let me know what you think! I'll see you guys in a few days with Chapter 12!


	12. Birthday Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Ricky's birthday... His mom and Todd are in town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter will contain violence against a minor, worse than anything else that has happened so far. To avoid it, stop reading when Ricky walks into his house after school.

“Happy birthday!”

Ricky blinked, pausing the hall. He rubbed his eyes, certain that he was seeing things, and stared at his father, who was standing in front of a table full pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs.

“Am I hallucinating, or did you actually cook?” he asked, blinking at the sight.

“Ha ha, very funny. I get up at the crack of dawn to make you a homemade breakfast for your birthday, and this is how you repay me?” his dad placed a hand on his chest, “I’m hurt.”

Ricky grinned and plopped down on the chair. He took his fork and lightly poked a pancake.

“It looks edible…”

“I’ll have you know, I studied a YouTube tutorial very closely.”

Ricky laughed. He piled some food onto his plate and took a small, hesitant bite, before he nodded.

“You’re getting better.”

“Ah ha! Hear that world? Mike Bowen is going to be a chef!”

“I wouldn’t go that far, now.”

His dad laughed and leaned back in his chair. He grabbed some syrup and drowned his pancakes in it.

“You want me to give you a ride to school?” his dad asked, “I’ve got some time before I have to get to work.”

“No, I’m going to skate to school with Big Red. He’ll be here soon actually. We’re all going to Denny’s after rehearsal, too.”

“Really sorry I can’t make it, Ricky, but we’ll do some celebrating tomorrow. Dana and Carlos want us all to get together at their house to celebrate, anyway,” his dad said.

Ricky grinned and took a sip of a glass of orange juice.

“That’s okay. You probably would embarrass me, anyway.”

“Me? Embarrass you? Never!”

Ricky snorted and kicked him under the table.

“Okay, maybe I’ve done it a few times,” his dad said, before he leaned in a bit closer to him, “You got the necklace?”

“It’s in my room. I’m going to run back over here after rehearsal and grab it.”

His dad let out a laugh.

“Probably for the best since you lost your whole freaking script the other day.”

“I still say it was stolen.”

“Whatever you say, Rick.”

* * *

Ricky didn’t live too far from school. Driving would probably take about five minutes. Skating was a bit longer, but even then, it wasn’t that bad. Big Red lived just a few doors down, too, so meeting together to head to school was a routine that they had been doing for ages.

“Do you feel any different?” Big Red asked as he skated just ahead of Ricky, “You know, now that you’re seventeen?”

“You ask me this every year, and every year I give you the same answer,” Ricky answered, shaking his head, “Do _you_ feel different on your birthdays?”

“Well, no.”

“Exactly.”

They came upon an intersection and stepped off their skateboards. Ricky hit the crosswalk button. Ricky turned to say something else but stopped at the look on Big Red’s face. The boy was staring behind Ricky at a red Sonic that had pulled up.

“Is that your mom?”

“What?”

He spun around and, sure enough, his mom was sitting in the passenger’s seat of the Sonic. She was rolling down the window, a wide smile on her face.

“Ricky! I’m so glad I caught you before you got to school!”

Ricky froze, clutching his skateboard tightly. He stared at his mom, eyes wide. His mouth felt suddenly dry, and his heartbeat picked up as he stared at his mother.

There was no way. There was no way that she was there. His dad had told him that he would make sure she knew not to come.

His eyes flicked behind her and, sure enough, there was Todd at the driver’s seat.

_“You need to learn a lesson.”_

“Mom,” he choked out, but found he couldn’t say anything else.

A hand touched his wrist. He flinched back, head snapping to the side, sure that Todd was suddenly standing beside him, but it was just Big Red. The boy pulled his hand back as if burned, and there was worry swimming around in his eyes that Ricky had never seen before.

“Ricky, honey, why don’t you just get in the car? I want to take you out for your birthday,” his mom said, and her voice was way too cheery for the terror that was running through Ricky’s body.

He shook his head. His chest felt tight. He took a step back.

“N-no. I-I have class.”

“Don’t worry about that, Ricky. I’ll call the school and say you’re sick. Just get in the car before the light turns green.”

Ricky couldn’t move. His entire body felt like it had turned to concrete. His mind ran with ideas of what would happen if he got in the car, of what Todd would do to him for stealing his money and running away, of what his mom would let Todd do.

“I-I don’t-“ he stuttered out, hands shaking.

They weren’t supposed to be here.

“Ricky-“

“He said no, Mrs. Bowen.”

Ricky’s eyes flashed over to Big Red, surprised at the harsh tone of the boy’s voice.

The light turned green. The person behind them honked, and Big Red reached out and grabbed Ricky’s wrist.

“Come on, Ricky. Time to cross.”

Ricky unglued his feet from the ground. His entire body was shaking as he hurried along the crosswalk beside Big Red, ignoring his mother’s call for him to come back.

Once the passed the crosswalk, he tried to get back onto his skateboard, knowing that was quicker, but he stumbled and nearly fell off. His legs felt like jelly, and his throat felt like it was closing in on itself. Everything spun.

“Hey. Hey, Ricky. It’s okay,” Big Red said, voice soft. He put his hands onto Ricky’s shoulders to try and hold him up, but Ricky flinched back, gasping and crying out, and Big Red pulled away, “Okay, okay, no touching. I-shoot.”

His legs collapsed out from under him. He fell to his knees and clutched his chest.

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. _He couldn’t breathe._

This was it. He was going to freaking die on the side of the road.

“You’re not dying, Ricky.”

Oh. Had he said that out loud?

“Ricky, you need to breathe.”

“C-c-can’t,” he stuttered out.

“You can. Just… Just match your breathing with mine, okay? In, out. In, out.”

He tried. He really did, but his chest burned every time he tried to suck in, and then he couldn’t hear Big Red anymore, only able to hear rushing blood in his ears.

“Okay. Okay, Ricky. Ricky, tell me five things you can see.”

“W-what?”

“What are five things that you can see?”

_Nothing_ , he wanted to say, but he didn’t. Instead, he blinked several times until the tears that he hadn’t even realized had been clouding his vision slipped down his cheek, and through the blurriness, he began to speak.

“u-uh. You. My s-s-skateboard. C-cars. Uh, trees. The-the road.”

“Okay, now what are four things you can touch?”

His hands shook, but they suddenly grasped onto something.

“My skateboard,” he said as he held it tightly in his hands, voice wobbling, “And… and the pavement. My shirt, and… and my shoes.”

“Three things you can hear.”

“You,” he answered immediately. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, “The cars. A bird.”

“Two things you can smell.”

“The car exhaust and uh, grass?”

“One thing you can taste.”

Ricky’s eyes opened. He breathed in.

“Orange juice.”

There was a relieved look on Big Red’s face. He smiled and slowly stood up. Ricky hadn’t even noticed that he had knelt down beside him.

“Wow. Okay, that actually worked.”

“What was that?” Ricky asked. He took in several deep breaths, relieved when his chest didn’t protest anymore. He was thinking clearer, too, although he felt like he could go to sleep for a week. His body still trembled slightly.

“I think that was a panic attack,” Big Red answered, “I mean, I’ve never seen one in real life, but I think so.”

Ricky blinked. Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet on shaky legs, licking his lips.

“How did you know what to do?”

“I didn’t really. I read about doing that online and memorized it, just in case,” he answered and blushed lightly, “Someone told me they had panic attacks, so I wanted to know what to do if I was there.”

Ricky swallowed and gave a short, shaky nod. He didn’t bother asking who. He was pretty sure Big Red wouldn’t tell him if he did, and he was too tired to question it.

There was a moment where neither of them spoke, where Ricky stood there, hands shaking and eyes flicking across the cars, making sure his mom and Todd were no longer there. Then, Big Red spoke up again.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, “Usually, you’re excited to see your mom.”

“Not anymore,” he answered. He bit his lip, eyebrows furrowing, “She… you saw the bruise. She knew Todd did it and refused to do anything about it.”

It was as much as he wanted to admit. It was more than he wanted to admit.

“Let’s just… let’s just go to school and pretend that didn’t happen.”

* * *

He was halfway through fourth period when he got a text from an unknown number. He scowled at the words ( _Hey, Ricky. This is your mom. I’m texting from Todd’s phone since you blocked me. I’d like to talk about that. Can we meet up after school?)_ and immediately blocked the new number.

* * *

The day dragged along slowly. He nearly fell asleep in half of his classes, and he spent most of his time trying to force his brain to think about how he was going to see Nini soon, instead of how his mom and Todd were in Salt Lake City. He was stopped in the halls a dozen times by people wishing him a happy birthday, and he wished nothing more than to be out of school and in Denny’s with Nini and the rest of his friends.

Of course, life wasn’t just that simple, and even after classes had ended, he had rehearsal.

And of course, because they were still in the read through, Big Red didn’t stick around. Instead, he headed home, promising Ricky that he would be at Denny’s later.

They were all sitting in a circle, and Ricky’s back was to the door, so he didn’t see the newcomer walk in. Instead, he saw the confused look on Kourtney’s face as she looked just over his shoulder.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt. I’m here to pick up Ricky.”

Ricky froze. His eyes widened and his hands formed fists on the table. He refused to turn around, refused to see the face that matched the voice that he had become too familiar with in the week he had known him.

Miss Jenn coughed. Ricky looked up at her. There was a questioning look in her eyes. He lightly shook his head.

“I’m sorry, Sir, but we’re in the middle of rehearsal,” Miss Jenn said pointedly.

“Yes, I understand that,” Todd said, impatiently, “but it’s his birthday, and his mom wants to spend some time with him. She doesn’t get to see him often, you know.”

Ricky squeezed his hands tightly, feeling his nails dig into the palm of his hand.

“We are in the middle of rehearsal, birthday of not,” Miss Jenn responded, and there was a bit to her words that Ricky had not heard before, “Besides, I am fairly certain you are not listed under Ricky’s guardians, so you cannot take him.”

Ricky knew that wasn’t true. Just the other day, Natalie’s sister had come in the middle of rehearsal and picked her up. It was after school, so the school rules didn’t apply. Miss Jenn seemed to understand that this wasn’t someone that Ricky wanted to go with, though.

“His mom asked me to come pick him up,” Ricky could hear the anger growing in Todd’s voice, and he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the homage of memories that threatened to bubble to the surface at that, “I can call her right now and let you talk to her.”

Gina reached over and touched his wrist. He took a deep breath, and mentally began to do the exercise that Big Red had taken him through earlier in the day.

“That won’t be necessary, Sir. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“I’m not leaving without Ricky.”

“Do I need to call security?” Miss Jenn asked sharply, “I asked you to leave.”

For a moment, he was sure that Todd would refuse to leave, that he would storm over and grab Ricky and drag him out the door, and no one would stop him, and Ricky would go with him to who-knows-where.

But then, he heard Todd huff, and the door slammed shut as the man left.

Ricky let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding.

“Ricky,” Miss Jenn said after a moment of silence, “Are you okay?”

He looked up, hands shaking, and his eyes locked with hers. There was a concern in them stronger than when Ricky had told her that his parents were separating.

“Y-yeah,” he forced out. He coughed and took in a deep breath before he picked up his script, “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s keep going.”

There was an awkward silence, and Ricky caught sight EJ looking like he wanted to argue (he also looked like he wanted to chase after Todd, but maybe Ricky was reading into him wrong), but then the freshman playing Lumiere spoke up with his line, and everyone settled into the script again.

* * *

The moment rehearsal ended, Ricky rushed over to grab his skateboard. He pulled out his phone and noticed that he had a message from Nini saying that she was already at Denny’s and cursed softly under his breath. He had thought that he would have longer, and he still needed to run by his house and grab the necklace that he had bought for her.

He was just about to walk out the door, keeping his eyes firmly fixed away from anyone else in an effort to avoid questions, when someone grabbed his arm.

A gasp escaped from his lips before he could stop himself. He spun around and yanked his arm free, eyes wide and chest heaving.

“Sorry!” Carlos exclaimed, pulling his hand back, “I just wanted to ask if you wanted a ride to Denny’s.”

“Oh,” he said, trying to will his heart to calm down. He shook his head, “No, I’m fine. I’ve got to run by my house first anyway to grab something.”

“I can drive you there,” Carlos said. There was a look in his eyes that Ricky couldn’t quite figure out.

Ricky shook his head. He gripped his bag tightly over his shoulder. He didn’t want to answer any questions, and he was worried that if he was one-on-one with anyone, there would be lots of questions being thrown at him.

“I’m okay.”

“Ricky, honey,” Miss Jenn said as she approached. He winced lightly and looked up at her. There was worry in her eyes, “Why don’t you let Carlos drive you? I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to skate there.”

“I’m fine. I skate everywhere.”

“Yeah, but not with that guy out there,” she said, arching her eyebrows at him, “Please, just take the ride. It’ll be safer and faster.”

He wanted to refuse. He wanted to get on his skateboard and go, get some time along for a few minutes and figure out what was going on, but he knew that he couldn’t. Miss Jenn was right. If Todd was waiting by the school…

He sighed and gave in.

“Okay. Okay. I wanted to see your new car, anyway.”

* * *

Carlos had definitely been kind when he said that the car wasn’t new to him. Ricky blinked at the sight of the 1999 Park Avenue Buick. He knew enough about cars to know that it was probably a pretty good car when it was made, but now it looked a little worse for wear. The front windshield had a large crack that started from the middle of the top and curved around the passenger’s side, and then all the way across the bottom to the driver’s side. There was a large dent in the back of the driver’s side, several smaller dents along the passenger’s side, and the hood didn’t sit all the way down. The grill was broken off, the heating didn’t work, and Carlos had to lean over the passenger’s side to open the door from the inside to let him in.

“My uncle wasn’t the safest driver,” Carlos said with an embarrassed smile.

Ricky couldn’t help but laugh lightly as he climbed into the passenger’s seat. Though the car definitely had quite a few cosmetic issues on the outside, it was obvious that Carlos had cleaned it thoroughly on the inside.

“I can see that,” Ricky responded.

Carlos pulled out his phone and brought up his GPS. He handed it over and Ricky put in his address. Carlos balanced his phone on the dashboard.

As they pulled out of the school parking lot, Carlos spoke up quietly.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“Not really,” he answered, sighing, “Todd’s just a jerk.”

Carlos nodded. He didn’t say anything about it again.

It was not even five minutes when they pulled into his driveway.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back,” Ricky said. He hopped out of the car and jogged up to the door. He grabbed his key and went to unlock it, before frowning when he realized that the door was already unlocked.

That was weird. His dad usually locked the door when he left. His car wasn’t in the driveway, so he must have forgotten.

He stepped inside his house and shut his door. He was just about to run down the hall to his bedroom when he stopped, freezing.

There was someone in his house. A man was sitting on his couch. He was reading a book, but he looked up when Ricky entered, and a sour look came over his face. He stood up, and Ricky took a step back.

It was Todd.

“What? Whe- How are you here?” Ricky stuttered out. He tensed up and gripped his bag tightly, staring at the man with no small amount of mounting fear rising in his chest.

“Your mom still has a key,” Todd said, venom dripping out of his voice. He took a step closer to Ricky, “She wanted to be here when you got here.”

Ricky took another step back and his back hit the door. He swallowed.

“W-where is she?”

“She stepped out. Wanted to talk to a family friend about getting custody.”

A family friend? Oh, Dana was a lawyer. Surely, his mother didn’t think that Nini’s mom would help her, though. Right?

Ricky took a deep breath. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Todd, terrified that if he looked away, the man would pounce.

“I just need to grab something from my room,” he said, voice shaking slightly as he took a step forward.

“Before your mom gets here?” Todd asked, his voice edging on a growl.

Ricky nodded. He took another step closer to the hall, but his eyes stayed on the man in front of him.

“I’m going to hang out with some friends.”

“No, you’re not. Your mother came all this way to see you.”

“Dad told her not to,” Ricky couldn’t help but say, “I don’t want to see her.”

Todd walked forward quickly, and Ricky backed up again, but his back hit the wall once more. Todd’s arm came out and gripped Ricky’s upper arm, pinning him there.

“You’re such an ungrateful little brat. After everything your mom has done for you-“

“Like what?” Ricky bit out. He sucked in a breath and pushed through the terror rising in him, “She chose you over me. I think that warrants not wanting to see her, don’t you?”

Todd’s eyes narrowed. He squeezed Ricky arm harder, and Ricky yelped. Todd leaned forward, right up in his personal space.

“You are going to apologize to her once she gets back here,” he said angrily, “And then you are going to come back with us and do chores for a year to make up the five hundred dollars that you stole, you little thief.”

Ricky tried to pull his arm from the man’s grasp.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” he hissed back, “Now get out of my house!”

Ricky’s hand connected with Ricky’s cheek, causing his head to snap to the side. Ricky refused to back down. The panic and fear that had been growing in him all day was morphing into fury, and he stared the man in the eyes.

“You have no right to hit me,” he said, “You have no right to me at all. If you don’t let me go, I will call the police.”

Todd grabbed his other arm and shoved him hard against the wall, but Ricky refused to budge. His knee came out and connected right between the man’s legs.

As the man let go of him and doubled forward, grabbing his crotch, Ricky pulled away. Satisfaction filled him, much like on Christmas before he would end up jumping out of that window, but this time, Ricky refused to let himself back down.

“You can’t control me. This is my house. You are not welcome.”

He stormed off to his room while Todd recovered and snatched the little box off from his bedside table. He put it in his pocket and walked back to the living room. Fear was still resonating underneath his skin, but he refused to let it show. He lifted his head up and stared straight at Todd as the man began to stand back up on shaking legs.

“You little brat,” Todd growled. He was taking deep, shaking breaths, but he was suddenly running straight at Ricky.

Ricky didn’t move. Instead, he raised his fist and slammed it straight into the man’s face as the man tried to barrel him over. He felt it connect, felt his fist punch Todd in the cheek, felt his knuckles cry out in pain.

Todd let out a shout. He stumbled back against the table, and the lamp fell off and shattered, but Todd did not fall.

Before Ricky had any chance to react, to run or prepare to fight back, Todd soared forward. Ricky’s hands flew up in front of his face, but then Todd’s hands were wrapping around Ricky’s throat, and suddenly he couldn’t breathe.

Ricky choked. His hands came up, trying to pry the man’s fingers away from his throat, but they squeezed and refused to budge. He tried to breath, but nothing came, and any and all anger that had risen up out of them felt like it was being squeezed away, leaving only the absolutely terror and fear that led to his legs flailing and his fingers scratching frantically at Todd’s hands.

The front door flew open.

“Ricky, I heard someone sh-“

Carlos’ voice cut off with a shout of surprise. Through bleary eyes, Ricky could see the sophomore fishing into his pocket and pulling out some kind of spray can, before flying forward.

But before he could do anything, Todd was spinning around, still holding onto Ricky. He let go of him and pushed him away from him as his attention flew to Carlos.

Ricky fell back. Right before his head slammed against the corner of the table, he could see Carlos holding the can up and spraying Todd in the face. The man shouted, hands flying up to his face.

Then pain exploded across the back of his head.

Everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... that just happened. We finally hit the climax of the story. This scene was probably the first one that I came up with. Thanks to itsjacobperalta on Tumblr for helping me figure out a few issues that I was having with some details. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think in a comment! I'm super excited to see your reactions this time. I've never left you guys on such a cliffhanger before.


	13. Bad News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The news travels quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: There is a description of a fairly serious head injury, as well as blood, in the first and last scenes. Also mentions of choking.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

Carlos’ hands shook. He pressed the phone tightly to his ear with one and held the pepper spray in his other, aimed at the man on the ground clutching his face and coughing frantically. Ricky was on the ground behind him, unconscious, and there was blood. A lot of blood.

“Uh, my friend… my friend was attacked by this… this man. He’s unconscious. He hit his head. I pepper sprayed the guy and-“

“Is the man still there?”

“Yes,” Carlos swallowed thickly. His eyes were glued to the man,

When his mother had given him the pepper spray after finding out in his freshman year that he was being bullied, she had always told him to pepper spray them and run.

He couldn’t really run, now. Running meant leaving Ricky, and Ricky was hurt. He wasn’t going anywhere without him.

“Can you give me your address?”

Carlos nodded, despite the fact that the woman on the other end of the line couldn’t hear him. He pulled his phone back and quickly brought up his GPS before reading off the address that Ricky had put into his phone.

“Okay, police are on the way. So are EMTs. Your friend, is he breathing?”

Carlos sucked in a shaky breath. He moved around Ricky so that he was behind him, able to both keep an eye on the man in case he got up but also on Ricky. He knelt down beside the older boy’s motionless body and looked down at the boy’s chest, noticing the slow rise and fall.

“Yes, he’s breathing, but there’s a lot of… blood.”

His stomach lurched with nausea, and he willed himself not to vomit at the sight of his friend laying on the ground, skin pale, bruises forming around his neck, blood pooling underneath him.

“From his head?”

“Y-yes.”

“Can you put pressure on the wound? Try and stop the bleeding while you wait.”

Carlos nodded again, though no one could see. His hands shook as he pulled his phone from his face, turned on speaker phone, sat the phone down and pulled off his jacket. He reached down with trembling hands, slowly turning Ricky’s head to the side and putting pressure on the bleeding wound on the back of his head. He withheld the urge to vomit again.

Ricky was pale and still. The red marks around his neck stuck out like a sore thumb. His curly hair was already matted with blood. His chest rose and fell steadily, a small mercy. Carlos bit his lip hard.

“Please wake up,” he whispered, “Please be okay.”

He looked up at the man on the ground. The pepper spray was still working its magic. The man clawed at his eyes and coughed, though not as much as at first. Carlos hoped that it lasts long enough for the police to arrive.

It was the same guy from earlier in the theatre room. Just from looking at the man, Carlos hadn’t been able to tell that he was up to anything in that room. He was tall with dark hair and dressed in a pressed suit. He smiled, at first, and seemed like a nice guy.

But Carlos had seen Ricky’s reaction to the man. He had watched as the Junior had frozen up, not even looking behind him. All the blood had drained from his face and his hands had shaken.

He knew that there was something that he didn’t know, and there were still things that he didn’t know, and he had already known that letting Ricky skate home alone probably wouldn’t be a good idea, which was why he had offered the ride.

He hadn’t realized that he should have gone inside his house with him, too.

He didn’t know how the man had gotten into the house, or even who the man was, but he didn’t need to. All that he knew was that the man had hurt Ricky, and at the moment, that was all he needed to know.

It took roughly ten minutes for the police to show up, and Carlos let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding when they cuffed the man on the ground.

“Didn’t mean to,” the man mumbled, disoriented as his arms were wrenched behind him, “Accident.”

Another officer knelt down beside Carlos. He checked Ricky’s pulse and frowned at the bruises on his neck.

“Can you tell me what happened?” he asked Carlos, voice calm.

Carlos sucked in a breath. A tear that he hadn’t realized had been falling slipped down his cheek.

“I-I don’t know all of it. That guy… he showed up at rehearsal at our school earlier, saying he wanted Ricky to come with him because it’s his birthday. I think he knows Ricky’s mom. He might be dating her. Anyway, Miss Jenn, our teacher, said no. I think she knew something I don’t. I took Ricky home to pick something up before we headed over to Denny’s to celebrate his birthday, and he went in alone. I heard shouting, so I came in and… and the guy was choking him. He pushed him back when he saw me, and Ricky hit his head. I pepper sprayed him and called 911.”

By the time he was finished stuttering and stammering his way through the explanation, the ambulance had pulled up. EMTs were rushing in, and he was suddenly being pulled away from Ricky.

“Is he going to be okay?” he found himself asking. He felt much younger than sixteen, all of the sudden.

“Hopefully,” the police officer answered him, “Do you have the number for his guardian?”

Carlos shook his head. His hands shook lightly, and he stared down at them. Blood covered them. Ricky’s blood.

“No, but… I can call someone who does.”

* * *

Gina didn’t know what was going on with Ricky, but whoever the man was that had showed up at rehearsal, she had half a mind to hunt him down and kill him, because it was obvious that Ricky was terrified of him.

What she did know, however, was that it was Ricky’s birthday, and she wasn’t about to let some jerk ruin it for him.

Which was why, the moment she, EJ, Kourtney, Ashlyn, and Seb piled into EJ’s car, she basically ordered that, unless Ricky brought it up himself, they were not going to ask him about it. Nor were they going to tell Nini or Big Red. Not until Ricky could enjoy his day.

Which was why, when they showed up at Denny’s to find Nini and Big Red already there, Gina quickly directed the conversation onto one about Nini’s time at YAC.

“Well,” Nini said, after asking them where Ricky was, “We’re putting on Hamilton, which is absolutely crazy. Our budget is huge, so it’s all big and exciting. Just the little bit they’ve done of the set so far is incredible.”

“Wow,” Gina said, nodding as she listened, “What role did you get?”

Nini blushed lightly.

“Well, everyone there is so talented. Honestly, I was surprised that I got cast as anything at all. I’m Peggy.”

Gina couldn’t help the grin that popper on her face at that. The image of Nini as Peggy was rather amusing.

_“We’re soaring, flying. There’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach.”_

Nini jumped and blushed furiously as her ringtone rang through the restaurant. Gina smirked and cocked her head at her.

“It’s Carlos,” Nini said, frowning down at the caller ID.

Gina’s smirk fell. Why would Carlos be calling Nini?

Before she could voice her question, though, Nini had the phone to her ear. Gina was close enough to hear Carlos’ voice from the other end, and her entire body suddenly felt cold.

“Hello?” Nini spoke.

_“Nini,”_ Carlos said, and Gina knew instantly that something was wrong, _“Can you give me Ricky’s dad’s number?”_

Nini was quiet for a moment. Her eyebrows furrowed.

“Why? Ricky should have it.”

_“Ricky can’t. He-uh… he_ -“ Carlos cut off with the sound of something that sounded suspiciously like a sob.

“Carlos?” Nini asked, alarmed.

Gina was already standing up, eyes wide and heart pounding against her chest. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. The others had gone silent, staring at them in confusion and worry. At Carlos’ name, Seb had even stood up.

_“There was a guy in his house. He attacked Ricky,”_ Carlos choked out finally, _“He’s going to the hospital. I need to tell his dad.”_

“What?” Nini exclaimed, all of the blood rushing from her face.

Gina felt like her heart stopped. A guy… it must have been that guy from earlier. He had hurt Ricky. Ricky was hurt. Ricky was going to the hospital.

_Ricky was going to the hospital._

_“He hit his head,”_ Carlos said, _“He’s unconscious. There’s blood.”_

Gina felt like she was going to be sick.

“Hold on,” Nini’s voice shook. Her hands trembled as she held her phone from her ear and quickly pulled up her contacts. She suddenly began to read off Mike Bowen’s number in a shaky voice, “You got that?”

_“Got it,”_ Carlos responded from the other end of the phone.

Gina was already gathering her things before Nini hung up. Her heart was pounding against her chest, and her hands shook. Her eyes flicked to the others who were staring at them, worried.

“Change of plans,” she announced as Nini shakily put away her phone, “We’re going to the hospital.”

* * *

Mike Bowen was not having a good day.

His boss had basically forced him to work on his son’s birthday and then hounded him all day about working the day after. He flat out refused that one. Saturday was his off day, and he had already promised his son they would celebrate.

There was no way he was flaking out on it. Not after he had sent his son to serve a week in Hell without realizing it.

He was on his break when he got the phone call, settled back and eating the dinner that he had packed for himself. He could see his boss heading towards him out of the corner of his eye, no doubt about to ask him, yet again, to work, so he gladly answered the phone even though he did not recognize the number.

“Michael Bowen speaking.”

_“Mr. Bowen! Uh, it’s Carlos… Carlos Rodriguez. I’m friends with your son.”_

Mike frowned. His eyebrows furrowed. There was something in Carlos’ voice that sounded off, wrong, _scared_.

Something was wrong.

“Yes? Is everything okay?”

_“N-not really,”_ the boy said, and his voice shook, _“Ricky got attacked. They’re taking him to the hospital.”_

Everything, all the frustration from work and excitement about his son’s birthday, leaked out of him like a balloon. His mouth fell open and his hand shook as he held the phone to his ear. He stared at the wall.

_“Sir?”_ Carlos spoke when Mike didn’t respond, _“I’m really sorry. I-I-I think he’ll be okay, but you need to go to the hospital.”_

Mike was already on his feet and gathering up his things. He cursed under his breath as he rushed out of the break room, rushing past his boss without a word to him.

“Who hurt him?” he demanded, though his mind was already supplying him with the answer.

He told her not to come.

_“I don’t know,”_ Carlos answered. Mike could hear his breath hitch over the phone, _“Some guy. He said he was going to take Ricky to see his mom.”_

Todd.

He was going to _kill_ him.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he said into the phone before quickly hanging up, not bothering with anything else.

Ricky was hurt.

He had promised him that he wouldn’t let anyone hurt him, and he had _failed_.

He _failed_.

He broke a dozen traffic laws on the way there.

* * *

Dana Salazar-Roberts was not happy to find Lynne Bowen standing outside her door when she opened it. Not at all. In fact, she would much rather be facing anyone except for the woman in front of her.

Lynne Bowen was not supposed to be in Salt Lake City. If she was here, Dana already knew that she had tried to talk to Ricky, and she mentally filed a note to call the boy and make sure he was okay once the woman left.

She crossed her arms across her chest and levelled a steady stare at the woman.

“Can I help you?”

Either Lynne didn’t notice the look, or she didn’t care, because she simply nodded and walked into the house without being invited in.

“I’m so glad to see you, Dana. I need your help with something.”

Dana arched an eyebrow at her.

“With what?” she asked, voice calm, a far cry from her wife’s voice when the woman had broken down about their boy just a few days before.

“Mike wants custody of Ricky,” Lynne said.

Dana’s jaw clenched. She took a seat on the couch and let out a soft hum.

“I know.”

“He won’t even settle for shared custody,” Lynne stressed, as if she didn’t hear Dana, “He wants to cut me out of Ricky’s life completely.”

“I know.”

“So, I need your help to stop him… wait, did you just say you know?”

A smirk flittered across Dana’s face. She arched an eyebrow at her again, cocked her head, and nodded.

“I’m helping him.”

There was a moment where Lynne didn’t say anything. She stood there, mouth opening and closing like a fish, eyes wide in confusion. A rush of satisfaction flooded through Dana. She pushed away the desire to punch the woman.

“What?” Lynne exclaimed. She shook her head, “Dana, why? We’ve always been such good friends.”

“That was before you hurt Ricky.”

Lynne took a step back. She blinked and furrowed her eyebrows, as if she wasn’t quite sure what she was hearing.

“I would never hurt my son.”

“No, you’ll just invite people in to do it for you.”

Lynne paled at her words, but her face twisted in anger.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Oh, I don’t?” she hummed and then, suddenly, turned around from the woman and began walking towards her study without another word. She knew, without looking back, that the woman was following her.

Once she entered, she immediately headed for her desk. She grabbed the manila envelope labelled “Ricky” and turned back to her.

“You see this?” she asked, smirking at the nervous expression covering Lynne’s face. She opened the envelope and pulled out three large, printed-out photos. She laid the first one on the table. It was a picture of Ricky’s face, showing the colorful bruise along his nose and cheek. Ricky was frowning at the camera, and there were tears glimmering in his eyes. He hadn’t necessarily had been happy about having the pictures taken, but he had been willing.

The next two photos were similar to the first. The next one was a picture of Ricky’s arms, showing both his bruised wrist and bicep. The last one showed his back and the many marks from the belt that he had been whipped by.

Lynne paled even more at the sight, and her hands shook.

“You see this?” Dana spoke slowly, leaning over her desk at the woman, “This is evidence. Evidence that your son was hurt while he was with you.”

“He was in a fight.”

“He was whipped with a belt,” Dana said, pointing at the third photo with narrowed eyes.

“I-“

“It was your boyfriend, and you let him in the house,” she said firmly, “You did nothing to stop it and protect him. So yes, I’m helping Mike get custody, because I’m not letting Ricky back in a dangerous environment, and, frankly, you don’t deserve him.”

Lynne opened her mouth, enraged, but before she can say anything, Dana’s phone went off.

She answered without even checking the ID.

“Dana Salazar-Roberts speaking.”

“Dana, it’s Mike,” Mike Bowen’s voice was loud and shaking on the other end of the line, “You need to get to the hospital. It’s Ricky… Dana, he was attacked. I think it was Todd and-“

“I’m on my way.”

She didn’t even look at Lynne as she grabbed her purse and stormed out of the house, feeling anger burning within her. She knew, without it being confirmed, that the man had hurt her boy again.

If she wasn’t worried about Mike having to find a different lawyer, she would have turned around and punched Lynne, then stormed down to wherever the monster who harmed her boy was and made sure he never saw the light of day again.

“Ricky’s my son!” Lynne shouted after her as Dana stormed out of the house, racing to her car.

“Not anymore!”

* * *

Carol Salazar-Roberts had worked in the Emergency Room for seven years. She was proud of the fact that she could stomach things pretty well. She’d seen people wheeled in from car accidents, held elderly patients’ hands as they passed, cleaned up vomit, pinned down screaming drug addicts. She saw it, and she only let it phase her when she was home with her wife. Never on the job.

And then she froze as she saw a group of EMTs wheeling in a teenager. A pale, still, bleeding boy that she recognized. A boy that should be celebrating his birthday at Denny’s.

“Ricky!” she gasped, dropping the clipboard in her hand and rushing over to the stretcher.

“Do you know this boy, Salazar-Roberts?”

“Yes, he’s my daughter’s boyfriend,” she said, “What happened?”

“He was assaulted, and he received a head injury. He will need stitches, and he is going to have to have a CT scan to check for brain damage,” said one of the EMTs as they handed them off to a group, “You probably shouldn’t help with this one, Salazar-Roberts”

She knew the rules. Of course, she did. She was too close to Ricky to be able to give him the proper care he would need. It didn’t make it any worse, though. She backed up from the stretched, eyes glued to Ricky. There were red, finger-shaped marks across his neck. Someone had tried to choke him. Someone had hurt her boy.

She had a feeling she knew who it was.

Ricky was rushed into the back. Carol turned her head from the scene just in time to see another teenage boy stumbling on in, pale and shaking, hands covered in blood.

She recognized this boy.

“Carlos,” she gasped out, quickly making a beeline for the boy. He looked up sharply, and his eyes were glazed with tears, “Carlos, what happened?”

Carlos collapsed in a chair. His hands shook, and he stared at the blood stains.

“I took Ricky by his house to pick something up before going to Denny’s. There was a guy in the house. He attacked Ricky.”

“What did this guy look like?”

She had only met Todd once, at opening night, but she remembered him.

“Uh, tall, dark-hair. White,” Carlos’ voice shook lightly, “Wearing a suit.”

She was right.

Freaking Todd.

“Where is he now?”

“The cops arrested him.”

“Good.”

She reached up and squeezed his shoulders, which were shaking with barely contained sobs. His eyes never left his trembling, blood-stained hands.

“Carlos, honey, were you injured?” she asked softly.

He shook his head.

“Are you okay?”

He shook his head again. He tore his eyes from his hands up to her face, and a tear dripped down his cheek.

“Oh, honey,” she hummed out and sat down beside him. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close, “It’s going to be okay. Ricky will be okay.”

He had to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really know how good this chapter was. I was kind of distracted writing it, due to some drama between my friends that I got pulled into. Hope you guys enjoy it anyway! Only two chapters left!


	14. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ricky wakes up.

The waiting room was packed, and a quarter of the people there were there for one person. Nini swallowed, willing back her tears as she stared at the wall. Kourtney sat beside her, holding her hand, and Nini felt as if that hand was a lifeline. She squeezed it, desperate for something to ground her to earth.

The moment she had entered the ER and saw Carlos trembling in one of the chairs with blood covering her hands, she had nearly vomited. That was Ricky’s blood. Ricky had been hurt. _Again_.

This time, though, it was bad enough to warrant a hospital visit.

“He’s going to be okay,” Kourtney muttered beside her, running her thumb over the back of Nini’s hand, “He’ll be fine.”

Nini couldn’t bring herself to think. Her mother was a nurse. She knew all about the dangers of head injuries.

Her eyes flicked up to where Ricky’s father was pacing. He had been a whirlwind ever since he arrived, demanding to know what had happened, to the point where her mother had stepped in front of Carlos, who was stuttering out answers, and told him to calm down. The man had responded by turning to the doctors, pleading for information, before he had finally settled on pacing impatiently.

Nini understood her frustration. She had the same ones.

Notably, why in the world was Todd at Ricky’s house?

Todd was supposed to be in Chicago, far away from Ricky. Ricky was supposed to be done with that man. He was supposed to be safe.

Obviously, he was not.

She was just about to stand up and join Mike in demanding answers when a doctor suddenly approached them.

“Ricky Bowen.”

They all stood, everyone from Mike to Seb. The doctor, a middle-aged woman with greying hair, arched an eyebrow at that.

“Ricky Bowen’s family,” she corrected.

Grudgingly, the others sat down, leaving only Mike standing.

“Come with me,” the doctor said, beckoning him forward, and Nini grimaced. She knew that the woman was looking for privacy, but if she didn’t know if her boyfriend was okay right this second, she had a feeling she was going to explode.

As Mike and the doctor walked off, Dana took the seat next to Nini. She reached over and grasped Nini’s other hand, squeezing it tightly.

“Give them some privacy. Mike will let us know how he is when he comes back,” Dana said softly.

Nini’s lip trembled. She squeezed her eyes shut and felt a tear slip down her cheek. She took in a shuddering breath.

“How could that man hurt Ricky?” she whispered, “and his mom… is she in town too?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Dana said. She brought her other hand up and gently carded her fingers through Nini’s hair, “She came by the house earlier to talk to me. I think that’s why Todd was at Ricky’s house alone.”

“I just don’t understand,” Nini shook her head. She leaned into her mom, and she felt Kourtney let go of her hand to give her some space, “how could she allow this to happen?”

Dana was silent for a moment. She wasn’t like Carol. Comforting didn’t come naturally to her. Carol had years of practice with bedside manners as a nurse, but Dana, as a lawyer, was never as good with such things. She was never as good at sugar-coating things so it would taste sweet to Nini when she was a child like Carol had been, but sometimes, the real reason was what Nini needed.

“Some people aren’t fit to be parents,” she explained, “Some people care more about their significant other than their children. Lynne chose Todd over Ricky, and I don’t think anything is going to change her choice.”

Nini couldn’t imagine that. She couldn’t imagine one of her moms treating her as anything but first, as anything but their daughter.

“Ricky deserves better,” she whispered.

Dana nodded in agreement.

“He does. And we’ll give it to him. We’ll be there for him every step of the way.”

Before Nini could say anything else, Mike was returning. The tension in his shoulders had faded away, and Nini knew that could only mean good news. She straightened up her back hopefully.

“Ricky will be fine,” Mike answered, the beginnings of a smile appearing on his face, “He had to get some stitches, and he has a moderate concussion, but the brain scan didn’t show anything unusual. We can go back two at a time. So, would anyone be against Nini and I going first?”

* * *

Ricky felt rather… fuzzy when he woke up.

He was laying on something soft, and there was a blanket covering his body. Someone was holding his hand, too, but it took him a minute to recognize the hand as Nini’s.

He pried his eyes open and found himself staring up at a ceiling. His body felt light. Was he floating?

“Ricky?”

His head turned to his dad’s voice. His father was on his left side, leaning forward in his chair. He looked tired, but he smiled at Ricky.

“Hey, bud. Glad to see you up. How do you feel?”

It took a moment for him to remember how to use his mouth.

“Floaty.”

His father laughed gently and nodded.

“They got you on some pain meds,” he said, “You’re a little high right now.”

“Mm,” he responded.

His head turned from his dad to the other side, where the owner of the hand that held his was. He smiled lazily at Nini, who had tears in her eyes.

“Hey, Nini,” he said, “What happened?”

He was in a hospital. That much he knew for sure. What happened leading up to him waking up in the hospital was blurry, though.

Nini swallowed hard. She squeezed his hand tightly, and there was a moment where it looked like she was debating with herself.

“You got hurt,” she answered finally.

“Mm,” he grinned, and his mind conjured up a few images, “Hit my head.”

“Yeah, Ricky. You hit your head,” she said with a watery laugh.

That wasn’t quite right, though. Ricky frowned, trying to remember what had happened. He had hit his head, but there was something else. Hands on his neck, squeezing. A man, shouting. Pepper spray.

“Todd,” he mumbled as the realization hit him like a wave.

“Yeah, Todd hurt you,” his father said, spitting out the man’s name as if it was acid, “But you don’t need to worry about him anymore. He was arrested. We’re going to press charges.”

Ricky licked his lips. His head turned back to his dad as the man spoke, and he frowned as he processed his words.

“But… mom…”

“Don’t worry about her. You don’t ever have to worry about her again,” he promised. He reached over and grabbed Ricky’s free hand, “We’re going to put a restraining order on her. She won’t bother you anymore.”

But that wasn’t right. He felt a whine leave his throat, and his father frowned.

“Where is she?” he asked.

It wasn’t right. The picture wasn’t right. He was in the hospital. Where was his mom?

He knew that she had chosen Todd over him before, but she would come see him in the hospital.

Right?

“Ricky,” Nini started, voice cracking.

“Your mom failed you, bud,” his dad said, voice soft, “But I’m here. Okay? And so is Nini, and her moms, and all the other teenagers currently in the waiting room right now.”

“Hmm?”

His mind caught on to that last thing, sure he had heard wrong. His eyes flicked to Nini, confused.

“Big Red, Ashlyn, Kourtney, Gina, EJ, Carlos, and Seb are in the waiting room,” she explained.

Ricky frowned, processing this new information. What were they doing here? Were they-

Carlos.

He tried to sit up suddenly, eyes wide, but his dad gently pushed him back down.

“Carlos,” he gasped out, “Carlos. He was- Is he- What happened to him?”

“Carlos is fine,” Nini reassured him. She brought his hand to her chest, squeezing it, and he felt her heartbeat, “A little spooked and very worried about you, but he’s fine. Todd didn’t hurt him. He’s probably going to want to see you soon.”

That would be nice. Ricky wanted to see him for himself, to make sure the Sophomore was okay. He could remember Carlos coming in, face to face with the man of Ricky’s nightmares. He needed to think him and to apologize.

“You want me to go get him?” Nini asked softly.

He hummed, and then nodded. He didn’t want her to go, but he needed to see Carlos.

“Okay,” Nini said, standing from her chair. She leaned over and placed a soft kiss to his cheek, “I love you.”

“Love you, too,” he said back.

There was no hesitation. Nothing unsure about it.

He loved her.

And he would never get tired of saying it.

It was only moments later when Ricky looked up to see Carlos at the door, hesitating on entering.

He gestured for him to come in, and watched as Carlos took a deep breath and walked in.

“Are you okay,” he asked Ricky. His eyes were lingering over Ricky’s neck, where Ricky knew bruises must be forming. The thought made him feel sick. Bruises on his neck could in no way be excused as anything other than something bad. There was no hiding what happened.

“Yeah, ‘m good. On pain meds according to my dad,” his eyes flicked to where his father was sitting beside the bed, silent. Ricky turned back to him, “Are _you_ okay?”

Carlos blinked at that, before he nodded.

“’Course. Nini’s mom helped me… uh… clean up,” he gestured vaguely to his hands, though Ricky wasn’t sure he knew exactly what he meant, “I’m good now.”

Ricky fell silent for a moment, nodding, before continuing.

“Thanks… You know… for everything.”

“I didn’t do anything, really,” Carlos said. He shrugged, and there was an expression of guilt on his face, “My entering got you hurt.”

“You stopped him from choking me.”

His father made a choked noise himself, but he didn’t interrupt.

“And you got a concussion.”

“Better than being dead,” Ricky said, voice firm despite how fuzzy his brain still felt, “Thank you.”

There was a moment where Carlos didn’t speak, where his mind seemed to be going a million different ways, but then he nodded, took a breath, and spoke.

“You’re welcome.”

“And… and I’m sorry,” Ricky’s voice was quieter this time, “That you got involved in this. I didn’t think T-Todd would go to my house.”

Carlos’ expression was puzzled. He shook his head and reached over, squeezing Ricky’s shoulder.

“There is no way that was your fault, Ricky. He shouldn’t have been there. I’m sorry I didn’t come in sooner.”

“That’s not your fault, either.”

“There’s only one person to blame here, and it’s Todd,” Ricky’s father spoke up suddenly, interrupting them, “I don’t want to see either of you blaming yourself for what he did. Understand?”

Ricky glanced back at his dad. He smiled softly.

“Speaking of that,” Carlos said suddenly, drawing Ricky’s attention back to him, “My mom knows a good prosecuting lawyer if you need one to press charges against that jerk.”

Ricky grinned, and tried not to think about his mother’s reaction to it.

“That’s good,” his father said, “We have Dana on our side, but she isn’t a prosecuting lawyer. We might take you up on that.”

* * *

Slowly, the others trickled in one-by-one, and by the time Gina entered, he was exhausted, and he fell asleep halfway through her promise to find a million and one ways to brutally murder Todd.

A police officer came by the next day for a statement, and despite his worry over his mother’s reaction, Ricky told the man everything.

He refused to protect the woman if she wasn’t even going to care about him.

She wasn’t his family. Not anymore.

Besides, when he left the hospital surrounded by not only his father, but his girlfriend, his girlfriend’s moms, and his seven closest friends, he knew that he had a bigger family than he could have ever asked for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said that there would be two chapters before the end, but I ended up cutting a lot from the end because it just wasn't working. It was making this too clunky and adding in plot points that served no purpose except to further the drama. I decided that I wanted a fairly clean-cut ending. So, this is going to be the last chapter, and this story is now complete! I may write an epilogue chapter later down the road, but I am going to take a step back from this for a bit before I write it, because I've always found that epilogues work best once you have time to step back and look at the finished product. 
> 
> Thank you guys so much for reading! You have no idea how much the response to this story has meant to me. I love each and every single person who commented or left kudos or liked/reblogged my posts about updates on tumblr. Thank you all! You gave me the motivation to keep writing to the end.
> 
> I'm going to be honest, guys. This is the first time I have ever finished a fanfiction. I've never been able to keep up the motivation, so thank you guys so much for your overwhelming support. It means the world to me that I can finally look at something and know that I started and finished it.


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